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RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 



RUSSIA 
AS I KNOW IT 



BY 

HARRY DE WINDT, F.R.G.S. 

AUTHOR OF 

"SIBERIA AS IT IS," "FINLAND AS IT IS," o" THE NEW 

SIBERIA," "PARIS TO NEW YORK BY LAND," ETC. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 



PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

London : CHAPMAN & HALL, Ltd. 
1917 



.134 



Printed in Great Britain bt 
SiOHARD Clay & Sons, Limited, 

BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.B.j 
AND BUNGAY SUFFOLK. 






TO 

MY FRIEND 

GERARD WARRINER 



I 



FOEEWORD 



This work is not to be regarded as an authority on 
political, military or social questions connected with that 
vast empire, which, to most Englishmen, is a sealed book, 
for it has been chiefly compiled from rough, and hitherto 
unpublished notes, casually jotted down during my 
travels throughout European and Asiatic Russia. These 
wanderings amount in the aggregate to over 50,000 
miles, and I may therefore, perhaps, claim to speak with 
some authority on the conditions of life in a country 
where I have passed, with intervals, nearly four years 
of my life. 

Thus, I have travelled, on various occasions, from Pekin 
to Moscow (before the construction of the Trans-Siberian 
Railway), from Petersburg to Bombay (via Little Russia, 
the Caucasus, Persia, and Baluchistan), and from Paris 
to New York " hy land," which latter journey (hitherto 
unaccomplished) took me from Moscow to the Bering 
Straits. I have also (by special desire of the Imperial 
Government) twice visited Siberia in order to investigate 
its penal methods, these tours of inspection including 
the famous silver mines of Nertchinsk, and prisons on 
the island of Sakhalin. Previously to this, Mr. George 
Kennan, the American traveller, had horrified the 
civilized world with his account of the sufferings of 
Siberian exiles, and my journeys of inspection were 
undertaken with the sole object of verifying this gentle- 
man's statements, which, however, I was unable to do, 
the result of my inquiries being as favourable as Mr. 
Kennan' s were the reverse. I may add that my views 
on the Siberian Exile system have since been endorsed 
by English travellers of repute who have followed in my 
footsteps, although during my prolonged Press con- 
troversy with Mr. Kennan I was accused, by more than 
one English newspaper, of having received a large sum 



viii FOREWORD 

of money from the Russian Government in order to 
"whitewash " its prisons ! ^ 

I shall now, however, deal chiefly with European 
Russia, without omitting those minor details of town and 
provincial life which, for obvious reasons, are not to be 
found in more serious works on the subject. Wherefore 
the average Englishman has, at present, the vaguest 
notions about everyday life in the Tsar's great empire, 
and this I frequently find when on returning therefrom, 
I am invariably asked : " What sort of a place is it? " 
and pestered with questions on subjects so trivial, that 
only one intimately acquainted with the country could 
furnish the desired information. My present object, 
therefore, is to present a bird's-eye view, so to speak, of 
the cities, towns, and villages of Russia, and to describe 
people of all classes, showing not only how they toil and 
take their pleasure, but also how the stranger may best 
conform to their occasionally curious manners and 
customs. For I anticipate that, when this war is over, 
thousands of my countrymen will visit Russia not only 
on business, but pleasure bent, and it is for their benefit 
that I shall now relate everyday experiences which, 
although they would be out of place in an ordinary book 
of travel, may prove useful to those in quest of a new 
playground. And if the information thus gleaned 
affords these tourists of the future any assistance in their 
wanderings through the most mysterious, and therefore 
most fascinating, country in Europe, Russia as I know It 
will not have been written in vain. It is necessary to 
state, however, that the earlier portions of this work 
were compiled before the recent political crisis. 

In conclusion I must express my thanks to Sir George 
Newnes, Mr. John Murray, Messrs. Chapman & Hall, 
and Messrs. Nelson & Sons, for kindly permitting me 
to quote a few extracts from previous works of mine on 
Russia and Siberia which these firms have, from time to 
time, published. 

Harry de Windt. 

Ga/rrick Club, London, g> 

April 1917. 

^ See Siberia as It is and The New Siberia, by the author. 



CONTENTS 



I. 
II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 



FOREWORD .... 

PETROGRAD — FIRST IMPRESSIONS 

PETROGRAD — AN EASTER DAY 

HOLY MOSCOW 

MODERN MOSCOW . 

MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 

THE COSSACK — IN PEACE AND WAR 

SPORT, AMUSEMENTS AND FOOD 

FINLAND — IN TOWN 

FINLAND — IN THE COUNTRY . 

THE ARMY .... 

CIVILIZED SIBERIA 

DARKER SIBERIA — ^YAKUTSK AND THE LENA RIVER 

FROZEN ASIA . . 

SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 

SOME STRANGE RACES . 

KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA — AN EVENING WITH A 
NIHILIST 



THE CRIMEA — THE INTERIOR 
THE CRIMEA — THE COAST 
THE CAUCASUS (1) 
THE CAUCASUS (2) 



Vll 
1 

8 

17 

25 

35 

50 

61 

68 

77 

90 

103 

124 

135 

144 

154 

167 
184 
197 
211 
222 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

To face pagt 

THE COSSACK: " STEFAN " 58 

A TOWN ON THE LENA IN SUMMEE-TIME .... 103 

A TOWN ON THE LENA IN WINTEE Ill- 

A "POST house" on the FROZEN SURFACE OP THE LENA 126" 

NEARING THE "DIVIDE" BETWEEN YAKUTSK AND VER- 
KHOYANSK , . . . . 136 

A POLITICAL EXILE AT SEEDNI-KOLYMSK HOLDING A 

FROZEN PISH 142 

TCHUKTCHI WOMAN AND CHILD, MIDWAY BETWEEN KOLYMA 

RIVEE AND BOEING STEAITS 160 

A TCHUKTCHI " WITCH " NEAE TCHAUN BAY (n.E. COAST 

OP SIBERIA) 165' 

A TCHUKTCHI GIEL FEEDING THE DOGS .... 174 

TCHUKTCHI BOYS AT BAST CAPE (beIeING STEAITS) . . 187 

SPEING-TIME AT WHALEN (aECTIC OCEAN) . . . 209' 

WALRUS-HIDE HUT IN WHICH THE AUTHOR LIVED AT 

WHALEN (eAELY SPEING-TIME) . . . . . 220" 



RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

CHAPTER I 

PETROGRAD FIRST IMPRESSIONS 

I SHALL never forget the first time I crossed the 
German frontier into Russia, chiefly because the fact of 
my so doing changed the whole current of a Hfe which 
had hitherto been devoted to anything but geographical 
or penal research. This was at Eydtkunen, one day in 
early autumn, when although the sun blazed from a 
cloudless sky, there was a chilly nip in the air, which, 
oddly enough, had been unnoticeable, an hour before, 
in Germany. Also, on alighting from the train, I became 
aware of a strange and subtle odour (the characteristic 
" Russian smell "), of which the chief ingredient is 
apparently smoked leather, and which, as I have since 
discovered, permeates the empire from the Baltic Sea 
to its Arctic confines at Yakutsk. 

I stood, for a while, on the platform, noting the striking 
contrast between desolate, grey-green plains, rolling 
northwards to the horizon, and the wooded hills, red- 
roofed villages and yellow cornfields which now lay 
behind me to the south. Two great empires are here 
divided by a narrow, sluggish stream, where ducks dis- 
ported themselves, and on the further side of which a 
dapper little Prussian sentry in " Pickelhaube " and 
sky-blue tunic aggressively strutted to and fro; while, 
on the nearer bank, a gigantic Russian linesman, in long 
drab overcoat, leant on his rifle and stared at him, much 
as a surly mastiff might view the antics of a performing 
poodle. For there was no love lost between Ivan and 
Fritz, even in those days, and on this lonely frontier, 
where mutual boredom might well have fostered tem- 
porary good fellowship, although I was assured that 



2 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

anything of this nature between the confronting outposts 
was unknown. 

My passport had been taken from me, before leaving 
the train, by a stalwart policeman who now approached 
and politely invited me to accompany him to the 
" passport room " in order to obtain permission to enter 
Russia. I could not, at that time, speak a word of the 
language, being under the impression that to master it 
must involve months of close and constant study. But 
this is a fallacy; for Russian is just as easily acquired 
as any other foreign tongue provided you merely wish 
to express your needs, and this any ordinary intelligence 
should be able to accomplish in a couple of months. The 
chief difficulty is to master the letters and sounds, and 
the rest is then plain sailing. To become really pro- 
ficient is, of course, another matter; yet there is no 
country in Europe (except perhaps France) where 
people are more anxious to assist you in this respect, 
or display more tolerance when you make ridiculous 
mistakes. 

I found my fellow-travellers herded like sheep in a 
pen, in a spacious whitewashed hall, where nearly an 
hour elapsed before documents were returned to owners 
entitled to proceed on their journey. A flashily-dressed 
German Jew was alone detained for further inquiries, and 
while this solitary victim was imploring the police to 
permit him to return to Berlin, double doors at the end 
of the room were thrown open to disclose a handsomely- 
furnished dining apartment with snowy tables glittering 
with glass and silver, and swallow-tailed, white-tied 
waiters in attendance. I had yet to learn that Russian 
railway restaurants are the best in Europe, and this 
sudden change from the sanded floors and greasy viands 
of German refreshment-rooms, where I had been com- 
pelled to swallow disgusting food in equally offensive 
company, was only one of many pleasant surprises which 
I was afterwards destined to experience, both in European 
and Asiatic Russia. My lunch that day would have 
satisfied an epicure, for it consisted of green caviar, 
Volga sterlet, a " rabchik " (Russian partridge), and 
cheese souffle which, with a pint of Crimean claret and 
coffee cost only four roubles, or about six shillings. 



PETROGRAD— FIRST IMPRESSIONS 3 

Here also I enjoyed, for the first time, a real Russian 
" papirosh," as superior to the spurious " Russian 
cigarette " generally sold in London (and formerly made 
in Hamburg), as a delicate " Corona " to a cheap 
cigar. 1 

The so-called " Express " which brought me from 
Berlin had crawled with exasperating slowness, but its 
speed was meteoric compared to the " Rapide " in which 
I completed the journey to Petrograd. Russian railways 
are, however, the most luxurious (and also the cheapest) 
in the world — provided you are not in a hurry. The 
heat was stifling, for although the Russians are pro- 
verbially a hardy race, they have a strong aversion to 
fresh air, so the windows were kept hermetically sealed, 
while, at night-time, a double one was raised to further 
exclude draughts. But then even Siberians seldom 
venture out in the height of summer without an overcoat ! 

My first impressions of Petrograd were distinctly 
unfavourable, although I arrived, on this occasion, 
during the dead season. Yet the very name of " Peters- 
burg " was, in those days, suggestive of an atmosphere 
of boundless wealth and luxury, surrounding the most 
brilliant and exclusive Court in Europe, and I had 
therefore pictured a city of glittering uniforms, beautiful 
women, dashing equipages and priceless jewels, where 
the highest in the land revelled in riotous pleasures, 
heedless of the silent and sinister workings of Nihilism 
and the secret police ! The place was also usually 
depicted by the English novelist (probably because, in 
most cases, he had never been there) as being strikingly 
imposing, and to drive from the station to my hotel 
through dusty, straggling thoroughfares formed by low, 
whitewashed buildings, was a sad disillusion ! Yet had 
I but known it, this feeling of disappointment was 
largely due to the vague sense of depression which most 
Englishmen experience when they enter Russia for the 
first time. It is also disquieting, on arrival at an hotel, 
to have your passport taken away by the police, who 
inform you that, until it is returned, you must not, 

^ I have of late years procured excellent and genuine Russian 
cigarettes (imported from Moscow) from Kincaid & Co., 8, Norris Street, 
Haymarket, S.W, 



4 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

under any circumstances, leave the city. And this 
applies to every town, however small, throughout Russia.^ 

I have never, since that day, visited Petrograd save 
in winter time (when it is much less depressing), for if 
Russia owes her limitless wealth and prosperity to Peter 
the Great, she has little cause to be grateful to that 
illustrious monarch for his selection of a swamp as a 
suitable building-site. Moscow with its " Kremlin " 
and exquisite Byzantine architecture, is a delightful 
city, purely typical of the great Slav empire which it 
represents, whereas Petrograd ^ is merely a bad imitation 
of other European capitals. But its illustrious founder 
probably designed the place less as an imperial residence 
than a commercial port, the establishment of which 
entailed almost as great a loss of human life as the 
erection of the Egyptian pyramids.^ And, during this 
colossal enterprise, another evil arose, for the Tsar, 
although an ardent patriot, was hoodwinked by un- 
scrupulous German adventurers, who rapidly acquired 
a political and commercial influence which, handed down 
to their descendants, has only been finally eradicated by 
the present war. 

Petrograd has a population of about two millions 
and, with the exception of Constantinople, the highest 
death-rate of any capital in Europe. This is partly 
owing to the scarcity of pure water, wherefore the upper 
classes drink only from imported mineral springs, 
although the poor are compelled to fill their barrels 
from the Neva, with occasionally disastrous results. 
A portion of the city is built on piles, and ominous 
cracks and fissures in some of the public buildings 
testify to the silting, unstable nature of the soil, while 
the cemeteries are so frequently flooded that wealthy 
people are often interred in southern Europe, where 
they may rest in peace beyond the reach of inundations. 

^ Or did, under the Empire. 

^ Peter the Great's proclivities are clearly shown by the semi- 
German name he originally bestowed on his capital, " Peter's ' burg.' '* 
The word " grad " is the old Russian name for " town " (from which 
the more modern " gorod " is derived), and its adoption has, there- 
fore, given universal satisfaction throughout Russia. 

^ Most of the quarter of a million workmen imported by the Tsar 
perished from epidemics and starvation. 



PETROGRAD— FIRST IMPRESSIONS 5 

Russians take every precaution to ward off the cold, 
but no one seems to provide against heat, which is 
therefore intolerable in summer, especially in conjunction 
with the stench from the numberless canals, which, in 
spring-time, release tons of vegetable refuse which the 
ice, in winter, has collected and congealed. From 
November until May there is rarely a blue sky and 
bracing frost, but piercing winds, chilly mists and a 
leaden sky necessitating electric light throughout the 
day. Petrograd is, in winter, as dark and depressing as 
London, while it has no matinees, concerts or other 
amusements with which more fortunate dwellers on the 
Thames may dispel the gloom of a foggy afternoon. And 
talking of winter, the Russians are just as unreasonable 
as the English with regard to climatic changes and 
adaptable habits and costume. In October (however 
warm and muggy it may be), they get into furs which 
are not discarded until late in the following spring. 
Their houses are also heated on a certain date for a 
certain period, merely because it is the custom, although 
I have occasionally, even in the month of November, 
emerged from the suffocating heat of a crowded drawing- 
room to walk home without an overcoat. And just in 
the same manner, it is assumed that the season for 
sledging lasts five months : accordingly, wheeled vehicles 
are laid up in October, and nothing but sledges are used, 
whether the snow lies or whether it melts, in which case 
you are jolted to death over cobbled streets. Winter is, 
however, the pleasantest season here, although a summer 
night, with congenial companions, may be passed 
agreeably enough, beginning the evening, say, with 
dinner at that world-renowned restaurant " The Med- 
ved " (or " Bear "), and afterwards driving out in open 
" droshkis," to one of the many islands on the Neva — 
most of which, however, are connected by wooden 
bridges with the mainland. Here you may sup at the 
open-air restaurants of " Samarkand," or " Villa Rodet," 
listen to really good music performed by " tsiganes," 
and also witness the ease with which these wandering 
minstrels accumulate riches at the hands of the pleasure- 
loving, reckless Russian " millionaire," or you may 
enter the " Variety " Theatre, where most of the per- 



6 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

formers are French, occasionally mingled with third- 
rate English, artists. Women in the audience are 
chiefly of the demi-monde type (mostly Parisian), but 
there is generally a sprinkling of quietly dressed ladies 
of society, who are escorted here for a glimpse of so-called 
gay life, much as they are in Paris to the cabarets of 
Montmartre. Here you may stop till early next morning 
or even later, if so inclined, and find when you get home 
that (if not a guest) your expenses have run into two 
figures sterling — or more — as champagne, in these places, 
has to be freely distributed amongst importunate females 
who would never dare to accost you in the street. And 
I may add that although Petrograd has, in this respect, 
not always borne the best reputation, many undesirable 
establishments, which used to exist in the form of 
assignation houses and the like have now been as severely 
prohibited as the sale of alcohol. But social vice, even 
on the islands, was never aggressively apparent, although 
one visit to the latter was generally sufficient. For 
there is no real darkness here from June until the end 
of August, and scenes of revelry and dissipation which 
may occasionally be amusing under the glare of elec- 
tricity become sordid and repellent in the cold grey light 
of day. 

Lack of exercise is probably responsible for the pallid 
appearance of most people of the upper class who reside 
here. No one ever dreams of walking for health's sake 
(even a servant sent on an errand takes a " droshki "), 
so that the women have a pallid, washed-out look, while 
the men (I allude to civilians), though generally tall and 
sturdily built, are rarely physically powerful. Both 
sexes spend most of their time indoors, especially in 
winter-time, and consume tea and numberless cigarettes 
in stuffy, overheated apartments, the only ventilation 
being from one small aperture let into a window pane and 
rarely opened. On the other hand, the lower orders 
look aggressively healthy and robust, and although few 
of them can afford to eat meat, they appear to thrive, 
even in this land of climatic severity, on a diet solely 
composed of " shtchi " (or cabbage soup) and black 
bread. 

You see fewer pretty faces in Petrograd than in any 



PETROGRAD-FIRST IMPRESSIONS 7 

other European capital, although quand elle s'y met, 
the Russian woman of gentle birth is incomparably 
beautiful. Nor do you often meet a really well-dressed 
woman walking in the streets, for even in summer they 
generally wear heavy material of some sombre shade, 
devoid of style or smartness, while every third man 
appears to be in civil or military uniform, the rest 
affecting broadcloth or dark tweeds with a straw hat, 
bowler or fur cap, according to the season. In winter, 
every one wears goloshes, which, when entering a house, 
are deposited in the entrance hall. But all this, of course, 
applies only to the towns, the peasants of almost every 
Russian province wearing its typical costume, as in the 
cantons of Switzerland. 



CHAPTER II 

PETROGRAD AN EASTER DAY 

The " Nevsky Prospekt " is one of three main arteries 
which traverse Petrograd, and contains its most im- 
posing buildings and finest shops, being also, on a fine 
day, a fashionable promenade, like Bond Street or 
Piccadilly. But it is a dreary, colourless thoroughfare, 
and, notwithstanding its great length and incessant traffic, 
there is a provincial air about this endless avenue of 
red-brick and whitewashed houses, some of which have 
green iron porticoes, as tawdry-looking as the buildings 
of which they form part. The aristocracy mostly reside 
in flats, and there are, therefore, but few of the imposing 
private mansions which in London and Paris convey an 
impression of dignity and wealth. For even the most 
expensive flats here are outwardly mean, comfortless- 
looking structures, occupied by both rich and poor, and 
generally surrounding a cobbled, untidy courtyard, 
littered with firewood stacked for the winter. Each 
group of flats has its " dvornik " or porter, who is as 
inquisitive and as great a gossip as the Parisian concierge. 

The best and poorest shops in the Nevsky are inter- 
mingled with startling incongruity, for here you may see 
a jeweller's windows blazing with diamonds, and next 
to them a grimy little alcove for the sale of old clothes, 
while a few yards further on a fishmonger dispenses his 
wares under the nose of a fashionable florist ! Large 
ironmongery, drapery, boot and fur stores abound, also 
dainty sweet and cigarette shops, but there are no 
furnishing emporiums of the " Waring," and " Maple " 
class, London or Paris generally providing this class of 
goods. Fortnum and Mason, however, have in Petro- 
grad worthy rivals, who provide not only ordinary 
groceries and preserves, but also the special Russian 

8 



PETROGRAD— AN EASTER DAY 9 

delicacies known as " zakouski," on which many people 
here seem to subsist to the exclusion of more substantial 
food, fifteen to twenty kinds being usually served before 
every meal. A few of these shops have little private 
rooms at the back, open day and night, where you can 
order champagne and the finest oysters, caviar, or sterlet 
on the market, for the fair one of your choice. Kous- 
netzof and Romanof (on the Nevsky) also provide a 
daintily cooked repast to follow, or used to do so, for 
these customs may have changed since the war. 

Personally, I do not (as the reader may have inferred) 
care about Petrograd, for it lacks the typical beauty 
of Moscow, the sylvan charms of Kieff, and Parisian 
aspect of Odessa. But although I prefer the afore- 
mentioned cities, the capital certainly possesses many 
unique objects of interest, amongst them one of the 
finest cathedrals in the world : St. Isaac's. And, by 
the way, I passed on my way thither (during a short 
walk from my hotel), a Catholic, Dutch, and Lutheran 
place of worship, besides a Jewish synagogue, thereby 
realizing that the stories which I had heard in England 
anent religious persecution in this country were about 
on a par with the falsehoods which, at one time, were 
freely disseminated about the inhuman treatment of 
Russian exiles. 

The glittering dome of St. Isaac's is a familiar land- 
mark visible for many miles, and its golden cross (thirty- 
three feet higher than that of St. Paul's) surmounts one 
of the most beautiful and costly churches in the world, 
the foundations of which alone cost £200,000 ! Enor- 
mous sums were contributed towards its erection by 
Catherine of Russia, and donations have poured in ever 
since from all classes of people, from the reigning Tsar 
to the humblest " moujik." St. Isaac's, therefore, now 
possesses a prodigious amount of treasure, of which the 
gold and silver articles alone weigh over two tons, 
while its jewelled " ikons " and sacred vessels, old and 
modern paintings, and marvellous mosaics must be worth 
many millions of roubles. 

I first went there on an Easter Sunday when the 
building was crowded with worshippers, for this is, in 
Russia, the principal festival of the year. And having 



10 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

just left a bright, sunlit street I stood, for a moment, 
half dazed by the gloom of that vast, domed structure 
faintly illumined by flickering tapers, as I listened, spell- 
bound, to the chanting of a wondrously trained choir. 
Never, even at St. Peter's in Rome, have I listened to 
such exquisite sacred music, and although there was no 
organ (it is forbidden in the Greek Church), the extra- 
ordinary depth and volume of bass voices amply atoned 
for any lack of instrumental accompaniment. Some of 
the Gregorian hymns I heard that day were many 
centuries old,^ and I was destined, in after years, to hear 
those plaintive melodies sung by unhappy beings with 
even more sadness and pathos than by the choristers of 
St. Isaac's — in the prisons of Siberia. 

A sudden air of life and gaiety pervades Petrograd 
on Easter Day, when the long Lenten fast comes to an 
end, for the greeting " Cristos Voskress " ^ has a more 
significant meaning here than among less devout nations 
who do not practise the same amount of religious self- 
denial. Easter eggs are purchased all over the city, from 
those taken from the hen-roost and stained in iDright 
colours, to others, delicately wrought in gold and set 
with jewels, in the jewellers' shops of the Nevsky. 

On this occasion the streets were packed with dense 
crowds, every restaurant was crowded, and I passed an 
enjoyable day with a party of Russians than whom there 
are no more hospitable and charming people in the 
world. Lunch at the " Medved " was followed by a 
drive out to the islands in " droshkis," a diminutive 
victoria to seat two persons, and so narrow that the 
latter hold on to each other ; an act of apparent famil- 
iarity which occasionally startles a stranger, especially 
when the occupants are of opposite sex. I remember, 
one summer evening, dining with an officer in the 
" Chevaliers Gardes," when an English friend of mine 
and his wife, who had just arrived from London, were 
the only other guests. Our bachelor host was rather 
notorious as a " Don Juan," and his marked attentions 
to the lady throughout the meal were greatly resented 
by her husJDand, who was of a jealous disposition. After 

^ Some are said to date from the fourth century. 
2 " Christ is risen ! " 



PETROGRAD— AN EASTER DAY 11 

dinner a drive was suggested, and we set out in two 
" droshkis," the Russian and the lady leading the way, 
but when, having taken his seat, my military friend 
calmly encircled his fair companion's waist, her husband 
fairly exploded with amazement and wrath. " Why, 

d n the fellow's impudence ! " he cried; " he's got 

his arm round her now ! " And it took me all my time 
to explain that this was only an ordinary Russian 
custom. But my friend was, I think, the most insular 
Briton I ever came across, who, upon another occasion, 
in midwinter, insisted upon wearing a tall silk hat on the 
Nevsky, although no one ever dreams of doing so at 
that season of the year, and very rarely at any other ! 

But to return to Easter Day, during which, by the 
way, our afternoon excursion was nearly brought to a 
tragic termination by an " isvostchik," who, having 
partaken too freely of " vodka," collided with another 
" droshki " and deposited the writer and another pas- 
senger — fortunately without injury — in the middle of 
the road. These " cabmen of the North " are a strange 
race, many of whom in summer work in the fields 
and only become " isvostchiks " in winter-time. Their 
costume is the same in every town throughout the 
empire : a low-crowned cloth or beaver hat and loose, 
dark coat, which reaching nearly to the feet, is gathered, 
at the waist, into a voluminous pleated petticoat. The 
dress worn by private coachmen is similar, but, in their 
case, the head-dress and clothing are of finer material, 
trimmed with fur, and in some cases richly embroidered 
with gold lace. Private " isvostchiks " are generally of 
huge proportions, for a fat coachman is regarded as a 
sign of wealth and prosperity, while he is also preferably 
selected of enormous girth to act as a wind-screen. 

The " isvostchik " is a bearded, jovial fellow, but 
nevertheless is full of guile and should never receive 
more than a third of the sum he claims as legal fare, a 
reduction which, to do him justice, he generally accepts 
with cheerful resignation. These men always drive at 
a furious rate (they are the only people in Russia who 
ever appear to be in a hurry !), but their kindness to 
animals is proverbial. I have driven thousands of miles 
in " droshki," " tarantass," and sleigh, and have never 



12 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

once seen a driver touch his horses with a whip, merely 
using the voice and reins, to which animals here seem to 
respond quicker than to the lash in other countries. 

We also went, that afternoon, to one of the many- 
public gardens around Petrograd, most of which, even 
in summer, are desolate-looking places hardly worthy of 
the name. In this instance, the dull frame-windows of 
a weather-bleached, wooden " restaurant " seemed to 
stare reproachfully at a vista of trampled lawns, weedy 
pathways, and beds of scentless flowers, while both trees 
and shrubs displayed the absence of verdure with which 
nearly every so-called " Garden " in northern Russia 
seems to be stricken. But there were crowds of holiday- 
makers (especially young officers and the Petrograd 
type of midinette), plenty of music, and refreshments 
galore, and although barely two hours had elapsed since 
lunch, my host now insisted on ordering " zakouski," 
cakes, and sweetmeats which were served in the verandah 
around a hissing " samovar." Some people are under 
the impression that the latter has cryptic powers of 
producing super-excellent tea, whereas it is merely a 
gigantic kettle, of complicated shape, filled with hot 
water, which is kept at boiling point by a metal tube 
running down the centre, and filled with live charcoal. 
The ordinary " samovar " (a Tartar invention) is made 
of brass or copper, but I have occasionally seen some 
exquisitely chased and engraved, and made of silver — or 
even gold. 

The fashionable world in Petrograd dines early, seven 
o'clock being the usual hour, but this evening I returned 
to my friend's house for another elaborate meal which 
was served even earlier, and left me wondering how any 
human frame could possibly assimilate such an abund- 
ance of food in such a limited space of time ! We then 
adjourned to the opera to hear Glinka's La Vie pour le 
Tsar, the work of one of Russia's greatest composers, 
and it has always struck me as strange that although 
Tchaikovsky, Moskovsky, and others of their class, are 
deservedly popular in England, yet Glinka (whom some 
Russians deem superior to them all) is seldom heard of. 

The Opera House here is as large as Covent Garden, 
but it is a barn-like place, and the audience seemed to 



PETROGRAD— AN EASTER DAY 13 

lack distinction, for evening dress was only compulsory 
on "gala" nights, when the performance was attended 
by the Tsar and Tsaritza and a gorgeously-apparelled 
Court. The scene was then one of unrivalled splendour, 
in which priceless jewels, dazzling uniforms, and costly 
flowers were confusedly blended, although the unattrac- 
tive appearance of the " proscenium" rather marred the 
effect of an otherwise brilliant spectacle. It seemed 
strange that a State which annually lavished millions of 
roubles on the finest operatic artists, should not have 
expended a comparatively unimportant sum to provide 
them with a more suitable setting. 

The Russian ballet is, of course, the finest in Europe, 
as all those must be aware who, in England, have 
witnessed the inimitable grace of Pavlova and Kyasht. 
Catherine of Russia was the first to introduce pro- 
fessional dancing from France and Italy, since which 
period all the principals engaged in these performances 
receive a fixed salary from the Government, and, at the 
end of fifteen years, a substantial pension. But every 
first-class theatre in Petrograd is subsidized by the 
State, and English plays, translated into Russian, are 
very popular; their repertoire ranging from Romeo 
and Juliet to Charley's Aunt ! Shakespeare is also 
idolized, and it is said that the Empress Catherine 
was so inspired by his works that she once essayed to 
write a tragedy, on the literary merits of which, however, 
historians are ominously silent. 

The opera was over early, and having thanked my 
host for his kindness and hospitality, I was about to 
return to my hotel, which, however, Madame would not 
hear of, urging as an additional inducement, that supper 
was awaiting us at their house. So we sat down to yet 
another meal of several courses, which was gaily and 
indefinitely prolonged, for wit and champagne flowed 
freely. Only country people retire here at anything like 
a normal hour ; and two or three a.m. (in the towns) is 
regarded as rather early for bed than otherwise ! And 
the supper was as enjoyable as such gatherings generally 
are in Russia, where the men are always friendly towards 
an Englishman, and the women, as a rule, amusing and 
well read. London and its doings were the chief topic 



14 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

of conversation, for of recent years interest in Paris has 
somewhat declined in favour of the former, probably by 
reason of the friendly relations which, even before the 
war, existed between the two nations and which have 
since been cemented into a staunch and, let us hope, 
permanent alliance. 

Supper was followed by music and cards, and while 
I was being initiated into the mysteries of " vindt," or 
Russian whist, Madame and her friends retired, leaving 
the men to their game. At its conclusion my inde- 
fatigable host suggested a last " snack " of sandwiches and 
pale ale, but I, this time, firmly resisted all remonstrances, 
and finally took my leave, at six o'clock in the morning ! 
So ended my first experience of a Russian Easter Day ! 

The palaces in and around Petrograd are worth seeing, 
although only a few could formerly be visited without a 
special order. It was once my privilege to be received 
at Gatchina on an occasion when the Ex-Tsar (then 
Tsarevitch) was graciously pleased to accept one of my 
works on the Russian penal system; but with the 
exception of the Anitchkoff within the city, and Pavlosk 
on its outskirts (where I visited General Kireef — a 
brother of the famous " O. K.," ^), I have entered no 
other imperial residence. The Winter Palace, on the 
banks of the Neva, is perhaps the most interesting, not 
only by reason of its imposing exterior, but also the air 
of silence and mystery with which it is (or used to be) 
eternally enveloped. For the " Little Father " was here 
as well and secretly guarded as the Grand Lama of 
Thibet, and thousands of troops were employed for this 
purpose. I remember standing, one winter's night, in 
the square in front of the palace, and watching squadron 
after squadron of mounted Cossacks defile, like moonlit 
spectres, around the great building, the tramp of their 
horses muffled by deep snow — for this was one of the 
precautions then taken every night, from sunset until 
dawn, and throughout the year. And this ghostly 
patrol was typical of the powerful but secret machinery 
which was formerly kept perpetually in motion to ensure 
the personal safety of the sovereign. The Winter Palace 
has only of late years been used for important Govern- 
1 Madame Olga Novikoff, 



PETROGRAD— AN EASTER DAY 15 

ment functions, levees and Court balls. There were three 
of the latter during the winter season; one attended 
by about 3000 guests, and one to which only about a 
third of that number were invited. The third was 
limited to the most exalted members of the aristoc- 
racy, officials of the highest rank, and representatives 
of the Powers, and took place at the " Hermitage," 
a continuation of the Winter Palace. Fabulous sums 
were expended by the State upon this ultra-exclusive 
entertainment, which, from all accounts, was so artistic- 
ally conceived and lavishly organized that it resembled 
a scene from fairyland. 

The Tsar drove out in public less than any other 
European sovereign, and, when in the streets of Petro- 
grad, I never saw the Empress, who, by the way, was 
generally called the " Tsarina " in other countries, 
although such a title did not exist ! " Tsaritza " 
is the nearest approach to it, but Russians always 
alluded to their Majesties as the " Emperor " and 
" Empress " when speaking to a foreigner, and as the 
" Gosudar " and " Gosudarinya " amongst themselves, 
the Tsar, at Court, being invariably styled " Imperator." 
" Tsarevitch " was another title which was rarely heard 
in Russia, "Naslyednik" or " the heir " being generally 
used. 

I shall not attempt to describe the famous " Hermi- 
tage " with its valuable paintings by Vandyck, Rubens, 
and other great masters, exquisite art-treasures, and 
perhaps richest museum in Europe; nor the Imperial 
Treasury and its crown jewels, the Admiralty, or " Corps 
des Mines," in which latter one can faintly realize the 
inexhaustible mineral resources of this great empire, for 
details of these may be found in any guide-book. I may 
mention, however, one object which attracted my 
attention : the colossal bronze statue of Peter the Great, 
and especially its pedestal, an enormous block of granite 
which, weighing over 15,000 tons, was dragged from the 
marsh where it was unearthed, five miles away, by 
primitive machinery and 80,000 horses. 

Every Russian town has its public market, which is 
extremely convenient, for a stranger has no occasion to 
inquire: "Where is this or that to be bought?" or 



16 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

wander through a town in quest of a particular object 
when he is perfectly sure of finding it in the " Gostinnoi 
Dvor." The latter at Petrograd stands just off the 
Nevsky, and occupies many acres of ground. The 
outer buildings are two-storied and enclose a maze of 
streets, courts and alleys — resembling a huge human 
bee-hive — in which, as in the bazaars of the East, every 
quarter has a special article for sale. Here you may 
stroll for days through endless avenues of stores con- 
taining every imaginable class of goods from diamond 
tiaras to a coil of rope, and purchase almost anything in 
creation. Bargain-hunters will be most attracted to- 
wards the quarter where wonderful old " ikons," antique 
gold and silver, and modern second-hand jewellery are 
sold. It was once my good fortune to secure from the 
latter a tiny gold watch, of exquisite workmanship, and 
set with brilliants, for about one-fifth of the price it 
would have cost near by in the Nevsky Prospekt, whence, 
I believe, it originally came ! 

Every precaution is taken, in the Petrograd Market, 
against fire, the whole place being exclusively built of 
brick and iron, for precisely at sunset all business ceases 
for the night. Every shop is then shuttered and barred, 
and its owner returns home, while watchmen and their 
dogs keep guard over his property until his return early 
on the following morning. 



CHAPTER III 

HOLY MOSCOW 

Moscow is about as far from Petrograd as London 
from Dundee, and you generally travel by the night 
mail, which is immaterial so far as passing objects of 
interest are concerned. For the tortuous line originally 
designed to accommodate commercial and social centres 
was ruthlessly condemned by Nicholas I., who, with 
the sole object of shortening the journey for his own 
convenience, called for the plans, and with pencil and 
ruler drew a straight line between the two cities. The 
stations are therefore often a considerable distance 
from the adjoining town, to the serious inconvenience 
of its inhabitants. 

The ancient Muscovite city covers an enormous extent 
of ground — less by reason of its population (about one and 
a half millions) than owing to the fact that its squares, 
streets, parks and gardens are on such a vast scale, while 
the town stretches over a series of undulating hills, which 
render it a pleasing contrast to flat, monotonous Petro- 
grad. My first impressions of the place were rather 
vague, for it would need at least a month to fully 
appreciate the features of historical and artistic interest 
which, at every turn, confront a stranger. There is, at 
first, a sense of incongruity, for modern thoroughfares 
and handsome buildings are promiscuously mingled 
with wooden shanties and mean-looking alleys, while 
portions of the city present more the appearance of a 
provincial town, or even village, than that of a great 
national centre. Only the principal streets are asphalted, 
others are of cobbles, with plank side-walks ; some not 
paved at all, for even Moscow presents in places the 
untidy, unfinished appearance of all other Russian 
towns, with the exception of Odessa. Yet nowhere else 
c 17 



18 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

in the world will you find such a bewildering array of 
constructive beauty as in the Kremlin, ^ with its cluster 
of beautiful churches, some with golden domes, others 
with towers and cupolas of every imaginable hue, from 
maize or apple-green to the darkest shades of purple, 
which somehow always harmonize with the bright or 
sombre red-brick walls beneath them. This gorgeous 
carnival of colour might, elsewhere, seem tawdry and 
discordant, but in this atmosphere of barbaric associa- 
tions it is always in keeping with the picture. 

" Moskva-Matushka " (or " Little Mother Moscow ") 
is not, as many people imagine, a very ancient city, 
for, with the exception of the " Kremlin " and its 
churches, it does not contain a single edifice over three 
hundred years old, having been for centuries entirely 
constructed of wood,^ and therefore constantly been 
burnt down. The first settlement was founded as far 
back as 1147, since which period this has been the 
scene of the most tragic events in Russian history, from 
wholesale massacres, in the dark ages, by Tartar hordes, 
to the assassination, only a few years ago, of the Grand 
Duke Serge. ISio city in creation was ever afflicted by 
such an appalling series of sieges, plagues, and con- 
flagrations, or, on the other hand, ever rejoiced in a 
more joyful and decisive victory than when Napoleon's 
legions were decisively routed by those overwhelming 
forces, fire and cold. 

The River Moskva is about the same width as the 
Seine, without the latter' s picturesque quays, although 
a stone embankment has now been built along the 
stream, which used, in olden days, to reach the walls 
of the Kremlin. The latter has five entrances, through 
massive square towers, and near one of these, the 
" Nicholas Gate," is a cross commemorating the assas- 
sination of the Grand Duke, while over another (the 
" Spaski," or " Gate of the Redeemer ") is a gold ikon 
representing the Saviour of Smolensk, ^ an object of 
such veneration that all passers-by are compelled by 
an armed sentry to uncover. There is a legend that 

^ Derived from the Tartar word, " kreml," a fortress. 
^ Wooden buildings are now prohibited. 
^ Pronounced " Smaleeonsk.** 



HOLY MOSCOW 19 

Napoleon, when riding through its portals, haughtily 
refused to remove his cocked hat, but that, by divine 
intervention, a gust of wind blew it off ! Near this spot 
are numberless rows of cannon captured from the French 
during their famous retreat, the former being embossed 
with the imperial crown, and bearing names like ships, 
such as " Immortalite " and " Sans Peur," on their 
breaches. 

The Kremlin is not only a citadel, for its walls, which 
are over two miles in circumference, also enclose a 
palace, cathedrals and monasteries, streets and squares. 
It is therefore practically a town within a city, from 
which former rises, in solitary grandeur, the Tower of 
Ivan Veliki, which contains the largest (suspended) bell 
in the world, ^ while, in the square beneath it, mounted 
on a granite pedestal, is the broken " Tsar-Kolokol," 
in which a score of people could dine with ease. This 
" king of bells " (cast in the reign of the Empress Anne) 
weighs nearly two hundred tons, which was the primary 
cause of its downfall and destruction, although it always 
had a dull, unmusical tone, imparted by jewels recklessly 
cast by the reigning Tsaritza and her ladies of the Court 
into the melting-pot. 

Russian bells are the finest in the world (from the 
one just described to the jangling grelots which 
have often lightened my Siberian journeys), and in 
Moscow there must be many thousands of all sorts and 
sizes, with tones varying from the deep bass of some 
metal monster to shrill and silvery chimes. And night 
or day they are never silent, for you may wake at four 
in the morning and hear them tolling for some monastic 
service or the repose of a soul, while when all are simul- 
taneously set in motion on Easter Morn the clamour, 
in conjunction with salvoes of artillery, is almost in- 
tolerable. Tchaikovsky is said to have conceived his 
famous symphony " 1812 " on a similar occasion. 

The historical and artistic treasures stored within 
the Kremlin are probably worth millions sterling, for 
the Palace alone contains a throne of solid gold set 
with two thousand precious stones, and the diamond 
crown of the Empress Anna Ivanovna, surmounted by 
^ It weighs sixty tons. 



20 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

a ruby worth sixty thousand roubles. One may wander 
here for days through dimly lit churches, with altars of 
silver, pillars and pavements of agate and malachite, 
priceless vestments and tapestries, rotting with age, 
and exquisitely painted ikons, so encrusted with gems 
that the image itself is often concealed. The Cathedral 
of the Assumption is. if not the most beautiful, perhaps 
the most interesting building here, for its relics include 
one of the nails used at the Crucifixion, a portion of 
the garment then worn by our Saviour, and a painting 
of the Holy Virgin, with jewels attached to it worth 
thirty million roubles. Here you stand in the very 
heart of Holy Russia, for in this sacred edifice all her 
Tsars are crowned, which reminds me that the last 
coronation has, for the writer, pathetic memories by 
reason of its association with an unhappy woman who, 
shortly after the ceremony, was banished for life to 
Arctic Siberia. She was exiled to a place ^ which, when 
I reached it, had only once been visited, during the 
past thirty years, by beings from the civilized world, 
save those who had been sent there " by administrative 
process." The former were two sailors, whose ship 
(the Arctic exploring vessel Bodgers) was burnt in the 
Bering Straits, and who eventually contrived to reach 
this ghastly haven, after enduring, for over two months, 
unspeakable privations and suffering. And it was only 
after four months of incessant travel from Moscow, 
chiefly in horse and reindeer sleds, that I contrived to 
find this abiding-place of fourteen miserable captives, 
one of whom was Theisa Akimova, who had attempted 
to assassinate Nicholas II. during his coronation in 
Moscow. Akimova was well-born and still young in 
years, spoke several languages fluently, and had taken 
high honours at the Paris " Conservatoire of Music." 
And I learnt, from this wretched exile's own lips, how 
her plans had been thwarted only just in time by the 
secret police, and how she had nearly succeeded in 
killing the now Ex-Emperor by means of a bomb which, 
had it exploded, must also have caused serious loss of 

^ It is marked as " Sredai-Kolymsk " on the map, but merely con- 
sists of a few log-huts. A detailed account of the place appears in 
From Paris to New York by Land, by the author. 



HOLY MOSCOW 21 

life in that crowded assembly. For this Theisa was 
condemned to death, the sentence being commuted to 
imprisonment for life in the God-forsaken settlement 
where she has probably, by this time, ceased to exist. 
This was the only information I could glean, on that 
occasion, regarding the affair, but a year or two ago I 
chanced to read the following account of the outrage 
in a work written by a friend, which, although details 
of the crime were carefully concealed at the time, describes 
how he probably witnessed the unhappy girl's arrest. ^ 

" I met Harry de Windt " (he writes) " on his return 
from his terrible journey overland from Paris to New 
York, a journey that took him into that fierce district 
in Arctic Siberia when the temperature was fifty-one 
degrees below zero and occasionally fell to eighty. It 
was somewhere up in these latitudes that he came 
across a little unknown settlement of political prisoners. 
One was a woman who had attempted to assassinate 
the Tsar, Nicholas II., on his coronation. A thrill went 
through me as he told me how she had a bomb con- 
cealed in a glass receptacle in the form of a prayer book, 
for did her seizure account for an incident which sent 
our hearts into our throats whilst we, at the coronation 
of Moscow, were waiting for the Tsar to come out of 
the Cathedral of the Assumption and cross the Square 
to the Cathedral of St. Michael ? 

" He did not come, and suddenly in the vast crowd 
there was a thud and a moving struggle. The dust 
went up, and then all was quiet. Still the Tsar did 
not come, but when he did come, it was not from the 
appointed door, but from an unexpected opening be- 
tween the Tribunes; and when he stepped out from 
beneath the canopy near where I was placed he looked 
deadly blue- white. It was at that moment that I was 
able to take a photograph of the scene, afterwards 
enlarged by Russell our Court photographer for His 
Majesty and the Grand Dukes. Was this thud and 
scuffle, about which we never heard a word, the seizure 
of this woman who told her story to my friend de Windt 
in the icy North? " 

^ See Reminiscences and Gossip of Men and Matters, by James 
Baker (Chapman & Hall, London). 



22 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

Nor was this the only tragedy on that eventful 
day, for, during the would-be regicide's arrest, several 
thousand men and women were being crushed to death 
on a plain outside the city while wildly surging forward 
to secure the enamelled tea-mugs ^ which were presented 
by the Tsar to his poorer subjects as souvenirs of the 
ceremony. 

Most of the churches in the Kremlin were built by 
famous Italian architects, but the Florentine and 
Venetian schools of art are occasionally quaintly blended 
with Byzantine work. Every church is surmounted, 
not by one, but a number of domes, of various sizes, 
connected with the walls beneath them by dangling 
golden chains, which appear to be restraining the 
balloon-like spheres from soaring into space. The 
Cathedral of St. Michael is a contrast to the floridly 
decorated Assumption, having a more sombre aspect in 
keeping with the fact that it contains the remains of 
the Tsars who reigned from the fourteenth to the 
seventeenth century. These illustrious dead are laid 
to rest in coffins draped with purple velvet, and one 
contained the corpse of little Prince Dmitri (murdered 
by order of the Tsar Boris), whose embalmed features 
were exposed, through a sheet of plate glass, to the 
public gaze. Near the bier was a side chapel, brightly 
illumined by wax tapers, where a Mass was being said, 
and that solitary patch of light vividly contrasted with 
the surrounding gloom and stillness. 

" St. Basil the Blest," which was erected in the 
sixteenth century by order of " Ivan the Terrible," is 
certainly the most curious building here, being less 
suggestive of human construction than of some archi- 
tectural freak in a nightmare. For there is no attempt 
at either form or symmetry about the exterior, which 
is composed of crudely coloured or whitewashed walls 
supporting a cluster of domes, cupolas and spires of 
the most grotesque shapes, some inlaid with glazed 
tiles of great age and such brilliant hue that they 
resemble chips of coloured glass in a kaleidoscope. 
The great Napoleon must have had peculiar notions of 
art, for he greatly admired this atrocity (which did 
^ One is in the author's possession. 



HOLY MOSCOW 23 

not prevent his using it as a stable for his dragoons !); 
while Ivan the Terrible was so favourably impressed 
when the building was completed, that he is said to 
have put the architect's eyes out in order that the 
latter should never build another like it ! But this is 
a favourite story anent despotic monarchs, and its 
authenticity may, in this case, be questioned, for 
although Ivan's insensate cruelty was sometimes that 
of a maniac, he could also on occasion prove himself a 
wise and powerful ruler, by whose strenuous efforts 
Siberia was annexed, and trade originally established 
with England. Nevertheless the Tsar's sudden demise 
before his eighth marriage, to an Englishwoman, Lady 
Mary Hastings,^ was for the latter probably a for- 
tunate occurrence, in view of the mysterious and prob- 
ably unpleasant fate of some of the former's previous 
consorts. 

The Palace of the Kremlin ^ rather detracts from 
the picturesque buildings around it, being a modern, 
commonplace edifice, with an exterior solely embel- 
lished by the golden spread-eagles which so freely 
adorn everything in Russia, from house-fronts to 
cigarette-boxes. It is, however, an enormous struc- 
ture, accommodating over two thousand people, and 
some of the reception halls are very beautiful, notably 
those draped with the colours of various military and 
civil orders : black and yellow for that of St. George, 
crimson for St. Alexander Nevsky, and the turquoise 
blue of St. Andrew. The throne room is upholstered 
in white satin, with gilt furniture, crystal candelabra, 
and massive pillars of malachite, and is separated by 
a covered garden of tropical vegetation from the State 
dining-hall, the marble walls and ceiling of which are 
supported by columns of lapis lazuli, and where every- 
thing, including chairs and tables, is of solid silver. 
The suite occupied by the Tsaritza was furnished in the 
Louis XV. period, while the Tsar's private study was 
suggestive of an English gentleman's library, with its 
writing-table and easy-chairs, well-filled bookshelves, 
and modest air of comfort and seclusion. A private 

^ Daughter of the second Earl of Huntingdon. 
2 It was built in 1849 under Nicholas I. 



24 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

passage leads from the Palace into the Cathedral of the 
Assumption, where their Majesties, when residing at 
Moscow, always attended Mass. 

Towards sunset, one fine summer's day, I ascended 
the Tower of Ivan Veliky,^ from which, by the way, 
on a grey wintry afternoon. Napoleon watched the fire 
break out which proved the forerunner of his defeat. 
The " Man of Destiny " must have retained unpleasant 
recollections of this famous belfry, for previously to 
this he had ordered the massive cross above it to be 
dismantled and sold, assuming it to be of pure gold, 
only to find that it was composed of gilt iron. Seen 
from this eminence, Russia's Holy City presented a 
map-like panorama of crowded white buildings, red 
roofs, and green gardens, from which arose the glitter- 
ing domes and crosses of the greatest number of sacred 
buildings to be found in such a limited area throughout 
the world. At my feet the little River Moskva, spanned 
by innumerable bridges, flowed lazily through the city 
and out on to fertile plains, where it was lost, in a 
silver thread, on the horizon, while I could faintly dis- 
tinguish the Sparrow Hills, whence Napoleon first 
beheld the promised land so soon to be torn from his 
grasp. White-winged pigeons circled incessantly around 
the tower, and one perched on a buttress close to my 
hand, as if conscious that no man could harm him, for 
here this bird is symbolical of the Holy Spirit, and 
therefore sacred, and legally protected. And as dusk 
crept over the world, and lights began to twinkle, like 
glowworms, about the darkening city, the bells of the 
Kremlin pealed out, as if at a given signal, producing 
such a wild and exquisite wave of melody that for many 
days after it lingered in my memory. 

^ Erected by the Tsar Boris Godunoff, in order to provide work for 
the starving population of Moscow during the great famine of 1601. 



CHAPTER IV 

MODERN MOSCOW 

An Englishman arriving in Moscow for the first time 
in summer would probably be unfavourably impressed, 
for it is then very hot and oppressive, while the slightest 
breeze raises clouds of dust. The streets are therefore 
uninviting on dry, sultry days, being seldom watered, 
while in wet weather they become seas of mud, which 
clings to everything, especially public conveyances, from 
which it is seldom removed. Closer attention to sanita- 
tion would certainly render the place healthier, although 
if the millions of money which have been lavished on 
Petrograd had been expended here, Moscow would now 
be one of the most attractive and salubrious cities in 
Europe. 

Many hotels have sprung up here since the com- 
pletion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, but before its 
construction the " Slavianski-Bazar " was the best, 
and superior to anything of the kind in the capital. 
This old-established house was so essentially Russian as 
to be almost a national institution, even the waiters 
being sallow, flat-faced " Buriats " from the Russo^ 
Chinese frontier. The " restaurant " was decorated in 
the Byzantine style, and of such palatial dimensions 
that the numberless tables beneath its lofty dome looked 
like toys in a doll's house. At one end of the hall a 
long sideboard groaned under every imaginable kind of 
" zakouski," and in the centre a marble fountain plashed 
into a miniature lake, where sterlet disported them- 
selves beneath a floating carpet of water-lilies. Here you 
could pick out your own fish, secure him with a miniature 
landing-net, and, a few minutes later, see him served 
up at table, boiled, fried, or a la Tartare, as the case 
might be. But this alluring pastime becomes expensive 

25 



26 



RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 



when this deHcacy is out of season, for the diminutive 
sterlet which I then ingenuously landed figured on my 
bill at £2 ! ! 

The term " Holy " is aptly applied to even modern 
Moscow, where you see in every street saintly images 
before which people invariably uncover and even occa- 
sionally prostrate themselves. This outdoor worship is 
not confined to the lower orders, and (with deepest 
respect to the Greek Church) I could not help reflecting 
how strange it would seem if, in the height of the season, 
fashionable London thus practised its devotions, say in 
Piccadilly or Pall Mall ! For these shrines abound even 
on the " Pont des Marechaux," the principal promenade, 
which on a fine afternoon is crowded with private 
carriages, motor-cars, and fashionably dressed women, 
though the latter would not have dared, even seventy 
years ago, to walk alone in the streets, or even, a century 
earlier, to be seen anywhere in public. The women of 
Muscovy were then as jealously guarded as their Maho- 
metan sisters of to-day, and in the older portion of 
the Kremlin Palace you may still see the " terem " 
which, in mediaeval days, was solely occupied by the 
fair sex, and the latticed windows whence they could 
furtively peep at men. Peter the Great was the first 
to introduce free social intercourse between the sexes, 
and there is a drill -ground near Petrograd where its 
imperial founder made women march unveiled before a 
regiment of soldiers in order to inure them to open 
male scrutiny. 

The best shops here have outwardly vastly improved, 
even during the past decade, for plate-glass fronts now 
replace the dingy frame-windows which formerly dis- 
closed shabby specimens of the goods sold within. But 
the " Pont des Marechaux " is now an avenue of modern 
and extensive establishments for the sale of jewellery, 
furs, and other luxuries of the rich, who may here also 
purchase the latest Parisian " creations " in feminine 
apparel and dainty underwear. The women dress better 
here than in other Russian towns — at any rate in the 
streets; while nearly everything exposed for sale in 
the shape of men's clothing is advertised as coming 
from London, but nevertheless was (before the war) 



MODERN MOSCOW 27 

generally " made in Berlin " ! For in those days 
thousands of German merchants and tradesmen resided 
here, and on the outbreak of hostilities public feeling 
against them rose to such a pitch that within two days 
all had fled or been safely interned by the authorities. 
Many were, however, maltreated, and some even killed, 
before they could escape the fury of the mob, which 
wrecked their business premises and set fire to princely 
mansions which some had erected from their ill-gotten 
gains. The riots were eventually quelled by military 
intervention, but not before every alien store in the 
place had been looted and then burnt down, nearly 
involving the whole city in a general conflagration. 
The anti-German " demonstrations " in London were, 
therefore, nothing compared to those which took place 
in Moscow, and all Russians whom I have recently met 
are amazed at the laxity of the British Government in 
permitting Germans (even when naturalized) to swagger 
about at liberty, while our prisoners are so barbarously 
treated in their own country. 

One great charm about Moscow is its undercurrent 
of Oriental life, which, however, you must visit the 
slums to observe and appreciate. I first came here 
direct from Persia, and was therefore doubly impressed 
by the aspect of some of the dingy courts and alleys 
frequented by the Tsar's Eastern subjects. And one 
day, while standing in a narrow, crowded passage, 
where light filtered through a smoke-begrimed roof on 
ragged Kirghiz, wild-eyed Circassians, and even white- 
robed merchants from Merv, I could scarcely realize 
that I was again in Europe. The familiar odour of 
spices and roasting " kabobs," clink of water-sellers' 
cymbals, and snarling of mangy curs, were much more 
suggestive of some remote bazaar in the Far East. 

My friend the late French author, Aurelien Scholl, 
once remarked to me that a lovely city without greenery 
resembled a pretty woman shorn of her locks. " For 
what," urged this charming writer, " would even my 
beloved Paris look like without trees and verdure?" 
And additional charm is lent to even beautiful Moscow 
by the now drained and cultivated moat around the 
Kremlin, and the many public and private gardens 



28 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

which here present a less neglected appearance than 
usual. Nevertheless the only real gardens in Northern 
Russia (according to our English ideas) are those which 
cost large sums of money, and are composed of tropical 
and hot-house plants kept under glass. I saw one of 
these at a house in Moscow owned by a rich manufac- 
turer who, although his name is Scotch, could not speak 
a word of English. And I have since met many de- 
scendants of canny Scots who sought employment 
under Peter the Great, and also Russianized French- 
men whose forefathers fought under Napoleon, and 
who, after his retreat, remained in the country and 
became loyal subjects of the Tsar. Even General 
Skobeleff, of Central Asian fame, was of British extrac- 
tion, his family having changed their name from Scobell. 

Before the war German was more widely spoken in 
Russia than French, but now the former language is 
strictly prohibited and every one is learning English, 
especially in the mercantile world, for after peace has 
been declared an enormous increase of trade with Great 
Britain is anticipated. Up till now the English in 
Russia have been commercially overwhelmed by the 
wily Teuton, who, as he was frequently a native of the 
Baltic provinces, and therefore practically half Russian, 
possessed an enormous advantage over the Britisher 
with his insular customs and ignorance of the language. 
The latter has always been the chief stumbling-block to 
Britain's commercial relations here, and as our language 
is now being so eagerly acquired in Russian schools, a 
similar movement in England would surely prove useful 
in view of our approaching struggle to capture Russian 
trade from Germany, which the Huns, when the war 
is over, will surely make desperate efforts to re-establish. 

These were the views of my Russo-Scotch host, who 
also imparted the fact that no two places could be 
more socially dissimilar than Petrograd and Moscow, 
the former being a city of pleasure and reckless extrava- 
gance, and the latter solely a metropolis of trade and 
commerce, where people were too busily engaged in 
making money to worry about Court or Society func- 
tions. Only the most ancient members of the nobility 
resided in Moscow, to whom the latter was a kind of 



MODERN MOSCOW 29 

Quartier Saint-Germain, whence they regarded frivolous 
Petrograd much as the old French noblesse looks askance 
at less aristocratic dwellers across the Seine. But 
Society in Moscow is chiefly composed of mercantile 
people, who have amassed fortunes in the iron trade 
and in the manufacture of textile fabrics. The yearly 
products from the latter alone amount to something 
like £25,000,000, and I met on this occasion a wealthy 
cotton- spinner who employed over 80,000 workmen in 
his various mills. 

There were present that day several leading lights of 
the commercial world and their families who hoped I 
preferred their city to Petrograd, to which I could 
truthfully reply in the affirmative. This seemed to 
please the ladies, who referred to the latter with an 
air of assumed indifference which scarcely tallied with 
their eagerness to hear the latest news about the Court, 
or any recent titbit of scandal concerning less exalted 
beings. And while guests at similar gatherings in 
Petrograd had lightly discussed events in foreign social 
centres or matters connected with their own sporting 
and dramatic world, the chief topic of conversation 
amongst the men here was the acquisition of wealth, 
while their wives seemed to be engrossed in their chil- 
dren's ailments and the latest fashions from Paris. 
There was as great a contrast between the cultured 
refinement of the one city and the provincial tone of 
the other as that which characterizes the upper social 
circles of, say, London and Liverpool ; although all here 
seemed convinced that Moscow must eventually super- 
sede its neighbour as chief city of the empire, a prophecy 
which, however, I have never heard elsewhere expressed. 

My host invited me to his charming villa near Moscow, 
and nearly every wealthy Russian possesses one of these 
" datchas" in which, as there are here so few mountain 
or seaside watering-places available, he generally spends 
the summer months. I found my friend and his family 
attired in peasant costume, and outwardly affecting 
an ultra-simple life which was hardly compatible with 
gambling, late hours, and the ministrations of a French 
chef. Fresh-water bathing and fishing enter largely 
into this rural life, and there is little else to do in the 



30 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

shape of amusement but to walk to the railway station 
and see trains arrive and depart. Meals are taken in 
the garden even although the weather is frequently- 
chilly, and as these cottages are built solely for hot 
weather, a lengthened stay in a " datchas " under 
these conditions becomes a dubious pleasure. The 
lower classes here have a poor time of it in summer, 
for there are no cheap pleasure resorts and excursion 
trains, as in England, and their holiday trips, there- 
fore, seldom extend beyond the precincts of their native 
town. 

My host was, as I have said, of Scotch origin, and 
therefore of less erratic temperament than a thorough- 
bred Russian, but it has always been a mystery to me 
how the latter ever make money by their own exertions, 
for, judged by ordinary standards, they are the worst 
business men in the world. And if " manana " ^ charac- 
terizes indolent Spain, the word " zavtre " (which 
means the same thing) is equally applicable to Russian 
commercial methods, for every one here has a dilatory 
way of transacting the most important affairs, which 
to a stranger is incomprehensible. Having once been 
interested in a Siberian gold proposition, I travelled 
expressly to Petrograd in order to confer with the 
holder of the concession, whom I found a charming 
man, and so hospitably inclined that three days elapsed 
before I could persuade him even to listen to a scheme 
by which we both might, if successful, have made a 
considerable sum of money. But nothing would induce 
my casual friend to stick to business, the discussion of 
which he invariably postponed, even on the most trivial 
pretext, until a fortnight had elapsed, when, having 
lost all patience and accomplished nothing, I returned 
to England ! This procrastination seemed to permeate 
the empire; and once, in Arctic Siberia, it nearly cost 
me my life, when the owner of a reindeer " stancia " 
refused, out of sheer laziness, to furnish me for several 
days with deer which he could have easily obtained in 
as many hours. He thus caused an unnecessary delay, 
by which my sled was nearly submerged through the 
rapidly melting surface of a frozen river. 

1 To-morrow. 



MODERN MOSCOW 31 

Both indoor and outdoor places of amusement abound 
in Moscow, and the principal theatres are conveniently 
situated in the centre of the town. Here also is the 
" Hermitage," one of the finest restaurants in Europe, 
and famous for its cuisine, rare old vintages and won- 
derful gold plate, where you are served by picturesque 
Tartars in snow-white garb and Russian embroidery, 
who wear list shoes so that silent waiting may enhance 
the enjoyment of a generally perfect meal. In Petro- 
grad dress clothes (or at any rate a dinner jacket) are 
worn at such places, but in Moscow men of the upper 
class rarely dress for dinner, although their ladies 
appear in the most elaborate toilettes, in striking con- 
trast to the broadcloth and tweeds of their male com- 
panions. But most men in Russia wear a uniform of 
some sort, or even the opera here would present a very 
dull appearance. 

The Hermitage is an enormous building, with vast 
public dining-halls and a perfect rabbit-warren of 
cabinets particuliers, which, discreetly concealed, have 
been the scene of many a secret love meeting, and even 
once of a tragedy, resulting in a fatal duel and the 
social downfall of a fair but frail one who had hitherto 
graced the most exclusive circles. And while on this 
delicate subject I may mention that I am frequently 
asked which, in my opinion, is the most immoral city 
in Europe — a riddle easily solved, for the Eulenburg 
scandals and other revelations have conclusively proved 
that Berlin is unequalled for every form of social 
depravity and sordid vice. Paris, on the other hand, 
has always, to my mind, been greatly maligned in this 
respect, for London is probably much more wicked in a 
dull, depressing way. On the whole, I think the most 
dissolute European city I have known of recent years is 
the Rumanian capital — while Buda-Pest is a good second, 
or was, for the latter was morally purified (some years 
since) by order of the late Emperor of Austria, who from 
all accounts was scarcely himself a paragon of virtue ! 
Moscow itself was, twenty years ago, by no means a 
school of morals, although the hotel porter did not, it 
is true (like his Hungarian colleagues in the past), 
welcome male guests with a book containing photo- 



32 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

graphs of attractive ladies willing (for a consideration) 
to dine, sup, and otherwise entertain the lonely stranger. 
Nevertheless even here the latter would (in those days) 
be quietly given to understand that he need never 
suffer, during his sojourn at the hotel, from a lack of 
pleasurable female companionship ! 

Moscow was once the chief point of departure for 
criminal and political offenders sentenced to imprison- 
ment or exile in Siberia, and both men and women 
were formerly dispatched from its great forwarding 
prison on a journey which might, according to circum- 
stances, terminate just over the Asiatic border or be 
prolonged as far as the Polar Sea.^ It was in this 
gloomy building that I first made acquaintance with 
the inside of a Russian prison, a preliminary experience 
which led to my inspection of every penal establishment 
and house of detention throughout Siberia. But that 
is another story, and I merely mention the Moscow 
gaol with reference to a curious incident which occurred 
there during my first semi-official visit, and which tends 
to show that " All is not gold that glitters," especially 
with regard to the " distinguished foreigner " who 
occasionally honours England with his presence. I 
was accompanied by the Governor, a stern, punctilious 
personage who, when we had traversed numerous 
wards and courtyards crowded with convicts, led me 
to a secluded portion of the building reserved for 
prisoners awaiting trial. Each one occupied a separate 
cell, and enjoyed certain privileges which enabled him 
to retain his own clothes and purchase other comforts 
suited to his means. 

" We have here a sad but interesting case," said my 
guide, pausing in front of a low, iron-studded door; 
" for this man is very highly connected, was an officer 
in the ' Chevaliers- Gardes,' and speaks about a dozen 
languages like a native. Yet this is his third offence in 
Russia alone, for which he will certainly be sent to penal 
servitude in Siberia. It is always the same story : 
swindling and embezzlement. A charming and popular 
member of society with the instincts of a thief ! Very 

"^ Most prisoners have of recent years been deported by sea from 
Odessa to the island of Sakhalin. 



MODERN MOSCOW 33 

sad ! " he added, as a gaoler drew back bolts and bars 
to admit us into the cell, the occupant of which rose 
from a table at which he had been seated. And I 
stared in amazement as the subdued light from a small, 
barred window fell upon a tall, slender figure wearing 
well-cut blue serge and smoking a cigarette. In a 
moment I had recognized those handsome features 
(although the latter were now partly concealed by a 
long, fair beard), and as our eyes met in mutual recog- 
nition, its owner sprang forward and, joyfully seizing 
my hands, addressed me by my Christian name ! The 
Governor said nothing, but fairly gaped with astonish- 
ment, which, under the circumstances, was not surprising ! 

Yet the explanation was simple, for this was an 
individual with whom only a few months before I had 
freely associated, and almost regarded as a friend ! 
When Count Tchertoff (as he then called himself) came 
to London he was almost unknown, but adroitly con- 
trived to obtain admission to the best town and country 
houses, where he was soon regarded as a favoured guest ; 
indeed, he even once attended a garden-party at Marl- 
borough House ! As the Count was apparently pos- 
sessed of ample means and a guileless nature, he became 
immensely popular, especially amongst the members of 
one of my clubs, to which he was temporarily elected, 
and where he lost heavily at cards. Tchertoff was, in 
short, such a cheery and amusing companion that I 
felt really sorry when he left England. An unfor- 
tunate love affair was, he explained, the cause of his 
departure, although it is now significant that, just 
before the latter, a diamond tiara was stolen from a 
ducal country mansion in which the Count was staying 
at the time. But Tchertoff had, in those days, only 
just embarked on the criminal career which has since 
rendered him notorious throughout the world, for there 
is probably not a detective in Europe or America who 
has not heard, at some time or another, of that audacious 
prince of thieves and swindlers, Nikolai Savine. 

The Count, on this occasion, blandly informed me 
that debt was the cause of his detention, whereas it 
was a jewel robbery at Warsaw which, a month later, 
sent him for five years to the silver mines of Nertchinsk. 

D 



34 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

From these, however, this daring rascal managed to 
escape and make his way on a small sealing vessel, via 
Vladivostok, to America, where, as luck would have it, 
I met the fugitive face to face in the Palace Hotel in 
San Francisco. Here Savine was posing as a wealthy 
French nobleman (under the name of " Count de 
Toulouse Lautrec"), but this time there was, on his 
part, no effusive greeting, for on seeing me my old 
friend hurriedly turned away, left the hotel, and never 
returned for his luggage ! 

Savine must now be nearly sixty years of age, and, 
notwithstanding all the efforts of his titled relatives to 
reform him, has passed quite a third of his life in prison. 
Only a year ago I read that he had again been convicted 
for a fraud committed at Pau, in France. But all 
efforts to explain my former and innocent association 
with this arch-crook failed to convince the Governor of 
Moscow prison, who, although I had the highest official 
credentials, regarded me for ever after with ill-concealed 
distrust ! 



CHAPTER V 

MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 

I CALL him my friend as he has so often proved one 
when I have urgently needed his assistance. Many a 
time, when paralyzed with cold, have I been carried 
from a sleigh into his stuffy, but welcome, " izba," 
there to be gradually restored to life by scalding brick- 
tea and other comforts which even the poorest Russian 
peasant is ever ready to lavish upon the homeless 
wanderer. For hospitality is here regarded less as a 
virtue than as a matter of course, and the money 
which I have tendered on such occasions has generally 
been refused, even by those who could ill afford to 
lose a " kopek," much less entertain a hungry guest. 

The Russian language is universal throughout the 
empire, and never varies, whether it be spoken in 
the salons of Petrograd or icebound Arctic regions. 
There are, moreover, no dialects, for the plebeian talks 
with as pure an accent as the patrician, and a man's 
station in life is more readily detected by his manners 
than by his mode of speech. This national unity also 
applies to Russian villages, which, although they natur- 
ally differ as to prosperity, size, and neatness, present 
a uniform appearance, whether they be situated in 
Europe or the wildest parts of Siberia. All are built 
of wood (for the Moujik regards stone or bricks as 
unhealthy to live in), and have one straggling street 
formed by detached cottages of various sizes, which 
are either thatched, or roofed with wooden slats or 
sheet-iron, according to the means or taste of the 
owner. One or two may have a second storey, and 
these are generally occupied by the " starosta," ^ 
local " tchinovnik," ^ or village priest, while even 

^ Head man of the village, ^ Government official. 

35 



36 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

the squalid hovel has an enclosed space for stables, 
outhouses and cattle byres, where fruit and vegetables 
are also grown. The post-road (which is also the 
main street) is usually a rough, uneven, and occasion- 
ally grass-grown highway, worn into deep ruts and 
holes by constant traffic which in wet weather renders 
it a quagmire, converted in winter into a smooth sleigh 
track of frozen snow. Two prominent objects are the 
wooden church with its sky-blue or apple-green domes, 
and the other the granary, a spacious black barn where 
grain is stored for public use in case of a lean harvest. 
The wells are also a distinctive feature, each having 
two lofty poles (like the Egyptian shadoof), for 
drawing purposes, which impart a quaint Oriental 
touch to the landscape, while at the entrance to each 
village is a wooden sign-post bearing the name of the 
place, the number of men, horses, and cattle which it 
contains, and in some instances the number of versts 
separating it from the capital. 

The Moujik generally builds his house himself, end 
on to the street, and although his tools are very primi- 
tive, he uses them with wonderful dexterity. Thus, 
an ordinary axe is made to serve as plane, saw, chisel, 
and mallet, and is also occasionally employed as a 
weapon of self-defence, or to cut a track, in winter, 
through the snow. Indeed, there is very little which 
a Moujik cannot accomplish with this instrument, 
which in the hands of even a skilled British work- 
man would probably be useless. Peasant courage 
and ingenuity were strikingly demonstrated some years 
ago by one Telushkin, who, for the sum of eighty 
roubles, undertook to regild single-handed the spire 
and cross of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul 
in Petrograd. And this herculean task was accom- 
plished without the aid of scaffolding, Telushkin sitting 
astride a little wooden saddle which he had himself 
suspended by cords, although the spire, from its base 
to the summit of the cross, is four hundred and fifty-five 
feet high ! 

There is little variety in the architecture of a Russian 
village, where the smallest and poorest hut is but a 
replica of the most imposing building; while rustic 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 87 

decoration, in the shape of trelHsed porches, summer- 
houses, or the Hke is unknown. The few shops are 
indicated by rough fir boards, displaying crude paint- 
ings of wearing apparel, joints of meat, or loaves of 
bread to indicate that the occupier is either a tailor, 
butcher, or baker; and there is always a forge, which, 
in posting districts, is of course a necessity. Horses 
and cattle roam about at liberty, to the danger at 
night-time of vehicles on the post-road; while, when 
their parents are at work in the fields, little children 
are sometimes attacked by gaunt, grey hogs, which 
boldly enter even the houses in search of food. Most 
Russian villages have a cheerless, squalid aspect, even 
in brilliant sunshine, for they are generally surrounded 
by monotonous plains or gloomy pine forests, which 
add to their air of solitude and dejection. 

Let us assume that we have reached one at dusk 
after a long day's journey in dirty weather, and over 
atrocious roads. The first thing is to find a night's 
lodging, which, if there be a post-house, is always ob- 
tainable, although the latter is usually dirty and com- 
fortless, and you are kept awake all night by the arrival 
and departure of travellers, even if you can sleep at 
all, devoured by vermin, on a hard wooden bench. 
The best plan, therefore, is to knock up the " star- 
osta," who, if you have a Government permit, is bound 
to receive you, but who, in any case, will probably 
offer you hospitality. Let us, then, enter this village 
magnate's house, where I first enjoyed peasant hospi- 
tality, and where my first impression was one of in- 
tolerable heat and stuffiness, for although it was a 
sultry autumn evening, the double windows were 
tightly closed. These are common throughout Russia. 
In October, no sooner has the first sharp frost set in, 
than the smallest crevices are stopped, the double 
sashes which have been removed are replaced — only a 
small air-hole being left here and there. In the inter- 
mediate space between the double windows, salt, sand, 
or cotton wool, are placed to absorb the damp collect- 
ing there. The salt is heaped up in all sorts of fanciful 
forms, which stand untouched till spring; and the 
layer of sand is planted with artificial flowers and 



38 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

other ornaments. Every house has its own devices, 
and it is amusing to make a tour of the streets on a 
bright winter day and observe the different ways in 
which the double windows are decorated. This was 
on this occasion the sole attempt at adornment, with 
the exception of two large oleographs of the Tsar and 
Tsarina, and the " ikon " suspended in a corner with 
its little silver lamp which is lit on feast-days. When 
in Russia, you must always uncover upon entering 
a room, whether it be in palace or hovel, for it invari- 
ably contained this sacred emblem, and, as a rule, also 
a portrait of the reigning sovereign. I once had my 
hat knocked off by an irate stranger in a Siberian 
cafe, when, being ignorant of this custom, I had not 
at once removed it on entering the place. 

The starosta's house consisted of one large apart- 
ment, about forty feet by twenty-five, with walls and 
ceiling of rough-hewn logs caulked with tarred felt, 
and uncarpeted deal planks for a flooring. It con- 
tained a circular deal table, three or four horsehair 
chairs, and wooden benches around the walls, which 
latter, at night-time, formed a resting-place. One end 
of the room, screened off by a thick curtain, was used 
as the women's chamber, in which there was presum- 
ably a bed, although the men seldom use one. There 
were also in this superior dwelling a few books — cheap 
editions of Tolstoy, Pushkin, and a translation of one 
of Dickens's works, but in most peasant households the 
library consists solely of a Bible and other sacred 
volumes. 

My venerable host introduced me to his numerous 
family, who were drinking tea around a " samovar," 
and whom I joined, while noting that nearly a third 
of the room was occupied by an enormous stove, the 
top of which is used, in winter, by the men and boys 
of the household as a sleeping-place. These stoves 
generally indicate their owner's condition in life, those 
of the better class being made of glazed porcelain, while 
inferior beings have to be content with clay; and the 
ovens which they contain are used, not only for cooking, 
but also to subject clothing to great heat in order to 
destroy parasites. For nearly all these dwellings are 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 39 

infested with vermin — especially the " tarakan," a 
kind of small cockroach, thousands of which swarm 
on the walls and ceiling of even the cleanest houses, 
and which are derisively called " Prussak " or Prussians. 
Nothing is therefore more essential, when travelling 
through Russia, than a supply of strong insecticide, 
for although the Moujik's person is cleanly his clothes 
and surroundings are generally very much the reverse. 
Occasionally fowls are kept indoors, bringing with 
them legions of fleas, and the living-room is littered 
with rubbish and thick with dust, while the floor is 
engrained with the dirt of years. But these are minor 
discomforts to a tired and hungry man, so I thoroughly 
enjoyed that first supper under a Moujik's roof, the 
meal consisting of white bread (a rare delicacy), cold 
pork, " agourtsi," ^ wild berries and cream. But the 
starosta was a rich man, and the fare, therefore, sump- 
tuous compared with that which I have shared, on 
similar occasions, some hundreds of times since. 

My experience of Russian village life during the 
past thirty years has led me to the conclusion that 
the Moujik is, generally speaking, one of the best fellows 
in the world, which fact is greatly to his credit, seeing 
that, up to the time of his emancipation, he was prac- 
tically regarded as an animal, unworthy of the treat- 
ment or ordinary privileges of a human being. He 
was in those days badly housed and habitually ill- 
treated, his women, if young and attractive, were 
outraged, and his children neglected and starved, for 
the serfs were regarded as mere beasts of burthen, and 
their condition was almost as abject as that of an 
African slave. Yet, notwithstanding that long period 
of oppression and degradation, the Moujik has contrived 
in less than sixty years ^ to become a decent member 
of society, 3 and if this social improvement has been 
partly due to legislation, some credit is due to the 
peasants themselves for suggesting the organization of 
their now existing " mirs," or village communes. The 

^ Pickled cucumbers. 

2 The emancipation of the serfs was decreed in 1861. 
^ In 1868 only eight per cent, of them could read and write, whereas 
now nearly half of them can do so. 



40 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

latter were instituted for the purpose of local self- 
government, and are now empowered by the State to 
settle economical matters, revise and equalize village 
taxes, and elect an executive administration under 
the presidency of a " starosta," or local chief, justice 
being thus administered according to the laws and 
traditions of each district. Every village is authorized 
to select this official, who may be its wealthiest or 
poorest inhabitant, provided that he is the person best 
qualified for the work. Sometimes every member of 
the " mir " is appointed by turns, for the office is not 
popular, as it involves frequent and often heated dis- 
cussions with the " tchinovnik," who is not always a 
man of integrity or honesty of purpose. There is also 
the " zemtsvo," a higher provincial council to which 
every litigant before the " mir " has the right of 
appeal. 

A Russian village has nothing in common with ours 
in England, where the name is generally suggestive of 
rural peace and sylvan scenery, for here there is no 
squire's mansion, ivy-grown rectory, or old-fashioned 
inn which, surrounded by snug homesteads, render 
its English prototype so homely and attractive. The 
landowners here generally reside for only a few weeks 
on their estates, in the summer-time, their winters 
being passed in Petrograd or Southern Europe, and 
there is therefore no one to take a kindly interest 
in the peasant or to lighten his lot in health or sick- 
ness. Moreover, the local priest or pope ^ cannot be 
compared to an English parson, being generally an 
illiterate individual with a partiality for vodka, which 
he is fortunately no longer able to gratify. He receives, 
as a rule, no stipend from the State, but merely a small 
piece of land for farming purposes, and as he is other- 
wise dependent on the private fees received for bap- 
tisms, marriages and burials, his flock is generally 
made to pay their pastor through the nose. Most of 
the rural popes I met were unctuous, crafty individuals, 
who looked like birds of prey in their long, dark robes, 
with greasy ringlets streaming down their shoulders. 

^ " To put it in the most charitable way, the Popes are not respected 
by the ' Moujiks * *' (Stepniak's Russian Peasantry). 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 41 

The local " tchinovnik " was equally objectionable, 
and only associated with the peasants when compelled 
or when he could secretly extort a few roubles, for most 
of these rural officials are out to make money, and 
generally succeed. 

The Moujik is the soul of hospitality and generous 
to a fault, but economical, not to say stingy, where his 
own wants are concerned, for, even when wealthy 
enough to obtain them, he will not only deprive him- 
self of the ordinary comforts of life, but undergo severe 
privations in order to save money. I have thus often 
found a man living in a hovel which contained enough 
cash to buy up half his village, this anomalous con- 
dition arising from a desire to leave his heirs well pro- 
vided for, and not with any miserly notion of hoarding 
wealth. On the other hand, even the most careful 
will financially cripple themselves in order to purchase 
good agricultural machinery. For the Moujik' s sole 
object in life is the improvement of his land, to which 
he is so devotedly attached, by tradition and lifelong 
association, and if this strange being were offered a life 
of luxury and an inexhaustible banking account in 
Petrograd, he would probably refuse them. 

The " traktir " ^ is now no longer a favourite resort 
after working hours, but it is only fair to add that 
drunkenness has never been so prevalent here as is 
generally supposed in England. The habitual intem- 
perance once ascribed to the Russian peasantry is on 
a par with other exploded insular myths, such as, for 
instance, the bearded Cossack, who, in my early youth, 
was depicted as devouring tallow candles by the score ! 
Every Moujik was also supposed to beat his wife, and 
no doubt, in former days, chastisement was occasionally 
administered by a husband to his lazy or erring spouse ; 
indeed, I once saw a birch suspended on the wall over 
a conjugal couch, but it was jokingly alluded to by the 
owner as a relic of a barbarous and bygone age. In 
any case, the cheerful readiness with which these people 
have given up " vodka " in favour of " kvas " is ample 
proof that they were never more than occasional 
^ Public-house. 



42 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

inebriates, who would make up for a week's abstention 
by getting gloriously drunk on the seventh day and, 
throughout the rest of the week, keep strictly sober. ^ 
And I can safely say that I have never, in all my ex- 
perience, seen their womenkind the worse for liquor. 
Nevertheless one must have seen (as I have) one-third 
of a small village composed of " traktirs " to thoroughly 
appreciate the benefits conferred upon the nation by 
the recent restrictions on the sale of alcohol. These 
have also greatly hampered the operations of Jewish 
usurers, formerly the curse of every village, for when 
things went wrong, owing to sickness or drought, the 
Moujiks were often compelled to raise money, and this 
was the village Shylock's opportunity to advance it at 
a ruinous interest, obtaining the borrower's house and 
land as security. When a number of plots had thus 
become mortgaged, the Jew would refuse further credit, 
and having appropriated the various properties, become 
a landed proprietor at his clients' expense. This evil 
was obviously at its worst when the grog-shops drove a 
roaring trade, and financial transactions were conducted 
by victims excited or fuddled by drink, a condition 
quickly taken advantage of by the sober and crafty 
Israelite. 

Nearly every Russian province has its typical costume, 
but this is only assumed on State occasions, the ordinary 
summer dress being a shirt of red flannel or chintz 
material, and black velvet or linen trousers tucked into 
high boots, worn, as a rule, by stalwart, bearded fellows 
of magnificent " physique," although they subsist 
almost solely on fish (fresh or salted according to cir- 
cumstances), " kasha," eggs and black bread. Only 
the wealthier peasants partake of meat (which is boiled 
in " shtchi " or cabbage soup before being eaten) and 
then only rarely, for the Moujik dislikes anything in 
the shape of food which is not of his own production, 
and he is not often a large cattle-owner. Nor will he 
ever touch bears' flesh, believing that the latter was 
originally a human being who was punished for his 
sins by being transformed into a beast ; whilst hares he 

^ " The suppression of the sale of Vodka has lessened the Imperial 
Revenue by one-fourth" {Europe^' s Debt to Russia, by Sarolea). 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 43 

regards as vermin, and, in some districts, pork as un- 
clean and therefore uneatable. The Moujik is also 
very particular as to the way in which his food is pre- 
pared, and although the table may be swarming with 
" tarakans," the fare, however humble, is always 
served with scrupulously clean plates and glasses. 
They are not great smokers in the rural districts (except 
in the south), and rarely smoke cigarettes, but prefer 
a cheap Bessarabian tobacco called " mahorka," which 
is used, not only for smoking, but to keep the moth 
out of clothing. For its fumes will instantly kill any 
insect, and although I am used to strong mixtures, a 
few whiffs of it made me violently sick ! 

In winter-time both men and women wear sheep- 
skins, and high felt boots, which are only removed for 
bathing purposes. Some cottages are provided with a 
steam-bath, where the whole family assemble on Sundays 
and feast-days, which, as there are about one hundred 
and seventy of the latter in the yearly calendar, main- 
tains at any rate their bodies in a state of cleanliness. 
Every village also has a public bath-house, which is 
paved with bricks so heated as to emit dense clouds of 
steam when water is poured on them. Profuse per- 
spiration is induced by birching with twigs, and this 
operation is followed by a cold water douche, or in 
winter by a roll in the snow or immersion in the ice-hole 
of the neighbouring river or stream, which is always 
kept open throughout the winter in order to draw 
water. 

Russian peasant women are rarely attractive (except 
in the southern districts), and this is partly because they 
work hard in the fields as well as the household, while 
their everyday costume consists of an ill-fitting cotton 
bodice and voluminous skirt of the same material. 
It is only on Sundays and holidays that the younger 
ones are attired in spotless white, occasionally trimmed 
with delicate Russian embroidery, and also wear the 
" kakoshnik," a kind of tiara of ruby or turquoise velvet 
adorned with tiny seeds-pearls. Those worn by the 
upper classes are set with priceless gems, and this 
head-dress is so becoming that one wonders it has not 
been more widely adopted in England. 



44 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

A Russian village looks its best on a fine summer's 
evening, especially if it be on a high-day or festival, 
when every one wears the national costume, and there 
are athletic sports, perhaps a travelling shooting gallery 
or merry-go-round, and much singing and dancing to 
the accompaniment of the accordion and " balalaika." 
The Moujik is passionately fond of music, especially of 
a mournful description, for even his merriest choruses 
have a strain of sadness, and the famous peasant song 
" Matushka- Volga," which is sung from the Baltic to 
the Polar Sea, is as melancholy as a funeral dirge. 
Many of the women have clear, musical voices, and in 
the " khorovod," or " dancing choir," form a ring 
around the prettiest girl in the village, and dance 
around her while each one sings an impromptu verse 
generally descriptive of marital infidelity, illicit love, 
or that universal object of fun and derision : The 
Mother-in-Law ! But gaiety never lingers long in 
either the Moujik' s mind or melodies, and when sunset 
has deepened into dusk the villagers, young and old, 
always assemble before retiring, to join in some simple 
hymn of the Greek Church, or one of the old Russian 
folk-songs so typical of the great and gloomy land 
which gave them birth. And when night has fallen, 
and lights begin to glimmer from cottage casements, 
the watchman goes his round, beating, at brief intervals, 
a wooden clapper (which has often kept me awake all 
night), to recall belated lovers to their homes and warn 
evil-doers of his presence. But there is little need for 
this precaution, for crime is very rare in Russian rural 
districts, which in this respect compare very favour- 
ably with some of our Welsh counties. Conjugal murder 
by poisoning, generally by the wife, is the most frequent 
penal offence (because divorce is almost unattain- 
able), and also arson, which when committed out of 
revenge, is known as " letting loose the Red Cock." But 
forgery, theft, and embezzlement are very uncommon, 
for the Moujik has a rigid code of honour regarding his 
neighbour's property, which he generally regards as 
sacred. 

On the other hand, morality in most Russian villages 
is rather lax, a fact which must be partly ascribed to 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 45 

cramped and insanitary housing conditions, where men, 
women and children are so promiscuously herded to- 
gether that it is impossible to conform to even the 
common decencies of life. For instance, the writer 
once stayed in a cottage in Little Russia where sixteen 
people of both sexes, whose ages ranged from eight 
years to threescore, nightly occupied a space measuring 
only eighteen feet by fifteen, and where five women 
and four of the men were between twenty and thirty 
years of age, and not even relatives. This was, of 
course, an exceptional case, as in most districts men 
and women sleep apart, although even this restriction 
is comparatively useless in places where the sexes con- 
stantly bathe together in a state of nudity. But the 
Moujik has only a vague notion of right and wrong 
regarding sex relations, and so long as his wife remains 
faithful, is generally indifferent as to the doings of his 
other female relatives. This state of immorality prob- 
ably arises less from vicious inclinations than ignorance, 
while at present the Russian peasants' mode of life 
is certainly not calculated to engender either delicacy 
of feeling or purity of mind. Both men and women 
marry very young, but generally less from love than 
mercenary motives, and large families are the rule, 
although more than a third of the children die under 
five years old. 

These people have one remarkable characteristic 
which is perhaps chiefly due to severe physical training 
and a simple life : indifference to physical pain. I 
have seen them submit to the extraction of several 
teeth at a sitting without wincing, and their aversion 
to a surgical operation is caused less by fear of the 
knife than superstition, for amputation, they aver, 
would entail their entering Paradise in a mutilated 
condition ! I recollect on one occasion cutting my 
hand rather severely, and my village host at once 
attempted to apply boiling tar to the wound, which, 
he informed me, was his usual custom ! The Russian 
peasant, moreover, regards death almost as callously 
as the Chinaman, an indifference which is shared by 
most of the Russian lower orders. Thus Mr. G. Brandes 
relates that during the Crimean War a wounded Cossack 



46 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

was dragging himself painfully along after his " sotnia," ^ 
and his comrades, seeing there was no hope of his re- 
covery, offered to bury him and so put an end to his 
sufferings. The wounded man at once agreed, and a 
grave was hastily dug, in which he calmly laid himself 
down to be buried alive. His colonel, on hearing of 
the incident, was naturally horrified, remarking : " But 
the poor fellow must have suffered intolerable tor- 
ture ! " " Nitchevo ! " (" Never mind ! ") was the re- 
ply; "we stamped the earth down quickly with our 
feet ! " Yet these men had acted solely out of kindness 
and sympathy, and were so eager to release their friend 
from further pain that they entirely overlooked the 
mental and physical agony which must have preceded 
his end.^ 

Although death has generally no terrors for the 
Moujik, he is morbidly superstitious, and delights in 
legends concerning ghosts and fairies, which are generally 
of a blood-curdling description. Even babies chuckle 
when told of a gigantic witch with nose and teeth of 
iron, whose forest dwelling is fenced in with human 
skulls, and whose powers of working evil are unbounded. 
The peasants are also great believers in spirits and 
spells, and when sick will often place more faith in 
witch-doctors than medical practitioners. Many of 
these village sorcerers make a good income out of 
herbal treatment and incantations, though the penalty 
for such unorthodox practices is a long term of im- 
prisonment. 

In summer the Moujik works sixteen hours of the 
twenty-four, and will often prefer to sleep in the open 
all night rather than lose an hour of daylight during 
haymaking or the harvest. In winter, when no work 
can be done on the land, he hibernates like a dormouse, 
although neither he nor his women are idle during those 
dreary months of semi-darkness. For Russian village 
industries in winter -time are now yearly growing in 
importance, every district manufacturing its special 
class of goods. The villages along the Volga river turn 
out sheepskin coats and Oriental slippers, those of Central 

1 A military Cossack term signifying 125 men. 
^ Impressions of Russia, by G, Brandos. 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 47 

Russia dainty embroideries, silver ornaments and 
cutlery, and so on. Of late years special attention has 
been devoted to the construction of wooden toys, such 
as were made in Germany, and the war will surely 
stimulate keener competition in this branch of in- 
dustry. The " koustar " (as these winter workers are 
called) are encouraged by the State not only because 
the villagers are thus usefully engaged when the devil 
might otherwise find them employment, but also be- 
cause their labours are a yearly increasing source of 
profit to the Government. Some of the work is really 
beautiful, notably lacquer, lace, and the exquisite 
Russian embroideries, which may now be purchased 
in England; while agricultural implements, watches, 
silver ornaments, samovars, " ikons " and innumerable 
other useful and ornamental articles are also manu- 
factured to find a ready sale in the towns, partly because 
of their admirable workmanship, and partly because 
purchasers feel that they are assisting in a useful and 
philanthropic scheme. " Koustar " work is, of course, 
strictly restricted to the winter-time, for in summer 
there is too much to be done on the land. 

As an impartial observer, for some years past, of 
the Moujik and his methods, I can only liken him to a 
giant with a baby's brain (the pathetic result of ages 
of mental stagnation) who is only just beginning to 
realize his national importance, which is, to say the 
least, considerable, seeing that he represents ninety per 
cent, of the entire population. And as time goes on, 
and the peasant becomes imbued, by better education, 
with more progressive views, he will certainly no longer 
recognize the counsel and authority of those ubiquitous 
tyrants, the village " pope " and rapacious " tchi- 
novnik." The change may be gradual, although it is 
now clearly realized that the day is not far distant 
when the country will have to rely mainly upon the loyalty 
and support of the agricultural classes. And a prominent 
Russian official whom I recently met declared that 
in his opinion (which was shared by many of his dis- 
tinguished colleagues) the trade, industries, and inter- 
national commerce of Russia would, after this war, 
attain such vast proportions that one result of the 



48 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

increase would be the formation of a powerful middle 
class, for the first time in the history of the nation. 
But any revolutionary element (my friend added) 
introduced by these altered conditions would in no 
way affect autocratic rule, for the backbone of the 
Russian nation (as he styled the " Moujiks ") would 
certainly never tolerate any other form of Government, 
as has been clearly shown, of recent years, by a per- 
sistent but generally fruitless Socialist " propaganda." 
I heav frequently heard in village traktirs the Moujik 
express political views in an open and aggressive manner 
which would have ensured arrest in any town, but the 
" tchinovnik," when present, never interfered, being 
too well aware that the Tsar's most staunch and de- 
voted subjects are numbered amongst these sons of 
the soil. For if it is now common knowledge that, 
just before the outbreak of hostilities, Russia was on 
the point of a revolutionary outbreak, it is equally, 
certain that all classes are now firmly united against 
the common foe, even political terrorists in the depths 
of Siberia having petitioned the Emperor to be allowed 
to return to Europe and fight for him. 

Dr. Charles Sarolea, in his recent work, Europe s 
Debt to Russia, thus testifies to the Moujik' s unswerving 
allegiance to the crown : " Loyalty," he writes, " has 
been for generations a religious tradition, and almost 
an instinct with the Russian peasantry, and such in- 
stincts have a very tough life in them, especially in a 
slow, patient, passive being like the Moujik. After the 
disaster to the Russian fleet in 1905, I visited many 
villages in every part of the empire. The image of the 
Tsar was still hanging in every ' izba ' with the ikons 
of the saints. The peasants remember the broad fact 
that Tsardom has ever been on their side, and 
that they are indebted for their freedom to the Tsar 
Liberator." 

When peace is declared, the peasantry will probably 
enjoy even greater prosperity than before the war, 
for years must elapse before Russia can sufficiently 
develop her mineral resources to compete with other 
nations as a manufacturing centre. Meanwhile, she 
will have to rely chiefly upon agriculture, which has 



MY FRIEND THE MOUJIK 49 

already rendered her a formidable rival as a grain- 
producing country to Canada and the United States. ^ 

I have endeavoured in this chapter to show that 
the Moujiks are a simple and lovable people, destined 
by their already overwhelming, yet yearly increasing, 
numbers to play in the near future an important part 
not only in the agricultural, but also political develop- 
ment of Russia. For although the peasant was, but 
a few years ago, compelled to cringe before his supe- 
rior, he has now acquired a sense of personal dignity 
which would certainly resent any infringement of his 
recently acquired rights; while, like most growing 
children, he now despises conditions of life with which 
he was formerly quite content. The Moujik is no 
longer, so to speak, satisfied with an accordion but 
must now possess a gramophone — indeed, may soon 
require an electric pianola; and these growing needs 
(which arise from a clearer perception of his growing 
importance) now apply to every phase of his daily 
existence. 

And if in England one result of this titanic struggle 
may be to promote closer relations between the upper 
and lower classes, in Russia the steadily increasing 
political and social influence of the peasantry will as 
surely impel the latter to exact greater privileges from 
the State, by which, only sixty years ago, they were 
regarded as mere machines, whose sole mission in life 
was to accomplish a certain amount of mianual labour. 
Everything now indicates that, when Russia has re- 
covered from the effects of this disastrous war, she will, 
with the other Allied nations, go ahead in every respect 
with lightning rapidity, and there are also unmistak- 
able signs that the Moujik will keep pace with her. 

■*• " Were the Russian fields cultivated as are those of Great Britain, 
Russia could produce enough corn to feed a populace of 500,000,000 
souls. In European Russia the cultivated land is only 21 per cent, 
of the whole area, while in France it is 83 per cent.^^ (Stepniak's Russian 
Peasantry). 



Q 



CHAPTER VI 

THE COSSACK IN PEACE AND WAU 

The Cossack is usually depicted, in England, as a 
picturesque blackguard of predatory instincts whose 
sole mission in life is to harass a retreating foe, or to 
convoy and occasionally massacre Siberian exiles. An 
English novelist's conception of this type is therefore 
generally a pitiless ruffian, bestriding a rat-like pony, 
which gallops like the wind while its rider performs 
prodigies of skill with a slender but deadly lance and his 
terrible " nagaika." ^ Indeed, according to British ideas 
the Cossack apparently does nothing else, although I 
have found him (when not engaged in warfare) a homely, 
placid individual, as devoted to home life and rural 
pursuits as honest John Hodge of Wilts or Sussex. 
That his existence, however, has two distinct phases is 
indicated by the fact that I once stayed, in a remote 
village, with a hospitable peasant who wore the red 
shirt and " caftan," was idolized by his family, tilled 
the land by day, and romped with the children at night ; 
and a few months later met the same man in Warsaw 
during a political disturbance in which many people 
were slain by the military patrols. And at first I entirely 
failed to recognize my once domesticated friend in the 
wild-eyed, yelling fiend who was savagely hacking his 
way through a crowd of helpless men and women. 
Anyway, this sudden and evil transformation convinced 
me that Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde present 
no greater contrast than this strange and complex 
Russian character in peace and war. 

The Cossacks (the word was formerly Turkish) have 
a somewhat mysterious origin, but they probably date 
from the fifteenth century, when in the vicinity of the 

^ A short-handled whip, with a heavy, tapering lash, somewhat 
resembling the " knout,*^ which is carried by every Cossack. 

50 



THE COSSACK 51 

River Dnieper a number of settlements were formed by- 
Russian refugees driven out of their homes in more 
southern regions by Turkish and Tartar hordes. Thou- 
sands of the former therefore took refuge in the " Zapo- 
rosjie-Setch," ^ as the place was called, and amongst 
them many renegades and vagrants who gradually 
established powerful robber communities. And the 
district became, in time, so thickly populated that a 
kind of republic was founded composed not only of 
industrious labourers and workmen, but also of men 
skilled in the use of arms, the latter being so numerous 
that the Governors of southern Russian provinces 
eagerly sought their services, in case of need. Thus it 
came to pass that all men of a fighting age in the " zapo- 
rosjie " were finally enrolled as soldiers of the Tsar, whom 
their descendants are serving at the present day. It is 
interesting to note that, even in those mediseval times, 
these people could be, one day, peaceful husbandmen, 
and bloodthirsty warriors the next. 

A Cossack is, while on active service, subject to 
the same military rules and penalties as an ordinary 
soldier, he swears allegiance to only one supreme 
leader, the Tsarevitch, who from time immemorial has 
been his " ataman " or chief, and he therefore cherishes 
feelings not only of loyalty and devotion, but also of 
warm personal affection for the heir apparent whom 
in most cases he has never even beheld in the flesh ! 
and his dwelling is therefore easily recognized, for it 
invariably contains a portrait of His Imperial Highness, 
as well as those of the Tsar and Tsarina, and generally 
also one of the late General Skobeleff, who was a staunch 
friend of the Cossacks, for whose fighting capabilities 
he had a profound admiration. Had the " White 
General " ^ lived (he is said to have been poisoned by an 
attractive Berlin adventuress in the Moscow " Hermi- 
tage ") he would certainly have figured as a prominent 
leader in the present war, and Russia undoubtedly 
sustained an irreparable loss by his untimely end. 

The Cossacks now number over three millions in 

^ " Setch '* signifies a fortified settlement. 

^ General Skobeleff was so called as he invariably rode a white horse 
in action — in order to render himself more conspicuous to the enemy. 



52 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

all, and they are known throughout the empire as 
" Otchuiny," a term signifying one of reckless or " dare- 
devil " qualities. Military service is in their case 
compulsory for a period of twenty years from the age of 
eighteen, twelve years of which are passed with the 
colours, and the rest in the reserve. And this is prob- 
ably the cheapest force in the world to maintain, for 
a man provides his own horse and everything in the shape 
of uniform and equipment, only receiving a rifle from the 
Government. But they are thrifty, industrious people, 
many of whom grow wealthy, and are well able to afford 
the outlay, which in any case would be cheerfully ex- 
pended; while the State grants them certain special 
privileges in return for their military services. The 
officers are not all of Cossack birth, for many are trans- 
ferred from the regular army, the colonel of some crack 
cavalry corps being generally appointed to command the 
Cossacks of the Guard — who always accompany the 
Emperor on State occasions. And a most impressive 
sight is that of His Majesty driving through the streets 
of the capital surrounded by an escort of this famous 
regiment, clattering by on their compact, blood-like horses 
under a moving forest of spears. The uniform is a dark 
single-breasted garment reaching to the ankles, tightly 
secured at the waist, and adorned across the chest with 
a row of silver cartridge-belts, with olive-green or crim- 
son breeches and a tall sheepskin bonnet. The officers 
wear side-arms adorned with valuable jewels, while 
every man carries a cavalry sabre and brace of pistols, 
a lance, and the formidable " nagaika." 

The Cossacks differ essentially from the ordinary 
Russian peasantry, to whom they regard themselves 
as greatly superior not only by reason of their ancient 
and distinguished lineage, but also of the valuable services 
which they have, for many centuries, rendered to the 
State. For although those who, in olden days, were 
first employed by Russia in the Turkish and Polish wars, 
were lawless marauders, yet even they possessed a 
strain of chivalry which raised them far above the level 
of sordid thieves and cut-throats. Yermak, the con- 
queror of Siberia, 1 was a case in point — and the granting 
^ See chap. xi. 



THE COSSACK 53 

to his tribesmen of special favours was only one result 
of his glorious achievements. Thus, the Cossacks 
are the only people in Russia permitted to observe 
certain laws of their own, which are framed by the 
chiefs of the various "voiskos" (or Cossack districts), 
of which the most important are those of the Don, 
Astrakhan, Ural and Amur in Eastern Siberia. They 
have also a central administrative department at the 
Ministry of War in Petrograd, to which a delegate ^ is 
appointed by each " voisko," which is also responsible 
for the proper maintenance of education. And the 
latter is so well conducted that, at the present day, there 
are very few Cossack children of either sex who cannot 
read and write. Cossack women are also superior to those 
of the moujik class, not only as regards intelligence and 
morals, but also in their personal appearance, indeed I 
have seen some who were strikingly beautiful. Their 
chief failing is incorrigible laziness, wherefore a Cossack 
home is never as clean or comfortable as a moujik's 
dwelling, which is itself seldom a model in this respect ! 

Although I have met Cossacks in all parts of Russia, 
I am best acquainted with those of the Amur (in 
Siberia), who have specially distinguished themselves in 
the present war, and with whom I have occasionally 
stayed in peaceful villages situated on the banks of the 
great river which flows from Lake Baikal to the North 
Pacific Ocean. And I found them excellent farmers, 
although less concerned about the care and cultivation 
of their land than the condition of their horses, which, 
in Siberia, are of a peculiarly hardy and useful stamp.^ 

A Cossack village (which is called a "stanitza") 
has a characteristic military air which renders it unlike 
any other, for even when in the bosom of his family 
the Cossack calls it " being on leave," and never 
entirely neglects his military duties, or even regimental 

1 " In the autumn of 1914 Russia had 328,705 Cossacks mobilized, 
and seven-tenths of them were concentrated on the German and 
Austro -Hungarian frontiers and met the first columns of the hostile 
force. Together with all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reserves Russia is able 
to put in the field not less than about 1,000,000 Cossacks" {Russia in 
Arms, by Lieut.-Col. Roustam-Bek). 

2 A Cossack officer, Nikolai Pieskoff, once rode the entire distance 
from Manchuria to the Baltic (6000 miles) on a small Siberian pony. 



54 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

dress, generally wearing a pair of striped overalls. Both 
uniform and accoutrements are kept ready to put on at 
a moment's notice, which accounts for the marvellous 
rapidity with which this force was mobilized in the 
autumn of 1914. Even little children in a " stanitza " 
wear old striped breeches discarded by their parents, 
and are put on a horse and left to their own devices 
almost before they can walk ! 

A Cossack generally owns two or three horses, which are 
kept in the pink of condition, and have as much attention 
lavished upon their feeds, grooming and exercise as 
though they were in the ranks ; while as they seldom 
exceed fifteen hands, they are better adapted for getting 
over rough and difficult ground than animals of larger 
build. The Cossack loves his horse as dearly as his 
wife and children ; in fact, it is practically regarded as a 
member of the family, which perhaps accounts for its 
marvellous sagacity when on campaign. I once stayed 
in the Ukraine with a farmer who remained all night in 
his stable to tend a mare with the gripes, while his child 
lay dying indoors ; yet this was not from any lack of 
fatherly affection, but merely because the horse is the 
one object on earth which inspires these people (like 
the Arabs) with an intense and absorbing passion, 
indeed it is part and parcel of their very existence. 
And I could cite many instances of when, in the deserts 
of Central Asia, Cossacks have given their last drop of 
water and mouthful of bread to sustain the life of an 
equine friend while they themselves have perished. 

Colonel Roustam-Bek (who formerly commanded a 
Cossack regiment) relates the following anecdote, ^ which 
proves that the Cossack is not only a lover of animals, 
but, when occasion demands, an accomplished thief ! 
" I remember once," he writes, " during the Pamir 
Expedition, our ' sotnia ' penetrated into a valley of 
the Trans-Alai Mountains through the Ak-Baital Pass. 
There was no grass at all, and we were short of barley, 
which was the only food for our horses. The officers 
had succeeded in keeping some sacks of this precious 
grain, and, in order that it should not vanish, we put 
these sacks at night under our pillows. The men were 
^ Bussia in Arms, by Lieut.-Col. Roustam-Bek« 



THE COSSACK 55 

very grieved that their horses were in a state of semi- 
starvation, and how they managed it I have never under- 
stood ; but a great part of the barley belonging to their 
officers disappeared every night, and it was impossible 
to find the thief ! " 

When a Cossack is mobilized his mount is put through 
the severest physical tests before being finally passed 
for service. It must, for instance, be able to cover 
fifty miles a day — for a month on end — without showing 
signs of distress, and when its owner is called up is 
often ridden an enormous distance, to join its unit at 
the nearest railway station. It must also be able to swim 
like a duck, having on several occasions had to cross 
broad, rapid rivers like the Pruth and Dniester during 
the present war. 

Although well acquainted with the wild American 
West, I have never in my life seen such horsemen 
as the Amur Cossacks, although I believe the latter are 
even considered inferior in this respect to those of the 
Don and Ukraine. And their horses are equally wonder- 
ful, for the two ponies belonging to Ivan, my host on the 
Amur, would lie down, rear up on end, or go down on 
their knees at word of command like trained " artistes " 
in a circus. They would also stop at full gallop (with 
a suddenness that would have sent an unskilled rider 
flying), and lie down motionless as if shot, for the 
Cossack, in action, takes cover behind his mount. My 
friend's work on horseback with the lance was marvel- 
lous to behold, for, while going at full speed, he would 
impale a chicken or pig with equal dexterity, pick up 
a bit of paper, or lie under his horse's belly at full gallop — 
a favourite device, so that the enemy may think that 
only riderless steeds are stampeding towards them. 
Ivan would also drop the reins, and his pony would 
turn to the right hand or left, or even turn completely 
round by word of mouth. I never witnessed the 
" Djigitovka " in which even these clever feats would 
be regarded as child's play, and which so excited the 
Kaiser's admiration that he endeavoured to introduce 
it in the German Army, with lamentably futile results ! 
My host, in addition to his equestrian skill was also a 
miarvellous marksman, as are most of the Cossacks, 



56 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

whose ranks contain some of the best shots in the army, 
and he was also as quick as a Mexican cowboy with the 
lassoo, which is used when pursuing an enemy. 

The Cossacks have many pecuhar and unique methods 
of warfare, which although handed down from their 
ancestors, are no less startling and successful when 
practised against modern troops. One of these is the 
mode of attack known as the " Lava," which Colonel 
Roustam-Bek so graphically describes in his interesting 
work, Russia in Arms, that I may perhaps venture to 
retail, for the second time, this distinguished Cossack 
officer's remarks for the benefit of the reader. 

" The most interesting tactical exercise of the Cos- 
sacks " (writes the Colonel) " is their celebrated ' Lava.' 
Everybody knows the word ' lava ' as applied to the 
liquid products of volcanic activity, but I think it is not 
known in England that the same word has been applied 
for centuries to a special form of attack employed by the 
Russian Cossacks. I have not been able to find any 
description of this use of the word in English. Germans 
and Austrians, however, know it, and have many times 
tried to introduce it in their army, but without success, 
their men and horses lacking the necessary smartness. 
Cossack horses are specially trained for this attack and 
do not need to be guided by hand or knee; they know 
what they have to do after the leader has cried ' Lava ! ' 
so both hands of the Cossack are free for fighting. 

" When news is received that a detachment of cavalry 
is approaching or ready to attack, an order to be ready 
for ' lava ' is given by the commander. The leading 
' sotnia ' (squadron) spreads out to right and left, and 
the others at full speed form up on either side of it in a 
semicircle or half-moon. Every man with a lance is 
attended by a man wearing a ' shashka ' — the Cossack 
sword — and all the officers, with the colonel at the head, 
are in front of the men of each ' sotnia.' 

" The other ' sotnias ' in the neighbourhood do not 
wait for a special order, and at once take up the same 
formation, endeavouring to surround the attacking 
force from another side. With loud shouts and cries 
the Cossacks rush down on their enemies, and even if 
this first assault is repulsed, another ' lava ' pours 



THE COSSACK 57 

down on the shaken enemy, and very often surprises 
them in the rear. In the present day the Cossacks, 
besides lances and swords, also use hand-grenades, which, 
if they do not cause very serious injuries, serve to 
demoralize both horses and men. A special reserve 
of ' lavas ' follows the attacking force of ' sotnias ' 
and picks up the wounded, and usually collects the 
ammunition and horses of the beaten enemy. 

" The Japanese faced this terrible attack only once, 
and after that never stopped to meet it. In the present 
war the ' lava ' has been used very often and with the 
greatest success, especially in Poland, for the heavy 
German cavalry was never able to open its front quickly 
enough to meet the sudden ' lava ' of the Cossacks." 

I may add that the author of the above (one of the 
ablest military critics in Europe) is of opinion that the 
Russian cavalry is far superior to the German, and even 
better than the Austrian, which is more efficient than 
that of its ally. Colonel Roustam-Bek does not, how- 
ever, compare the Cossacks with any of these, for they, 
he declares, are matchless ! 

I was once the guest of a Cossack regiment quartered 
in a small town in the Caucasus, my host being 
Prince Z., whom I had met in Paris, where he always 
spent his leave, and with which he was as well acquainted 
as with his native Circassian mountains. The regiment 
was in barracks, which enabled me the more closely to 
observe the men while on service, and I noted that, 
although their officers treated them on friendly, and 
occasionally even familiar terms, this in no way ap- 
peared to detract from the severe discipline which 
prevailed. But, as my friend Z. remarked, " Make pals 
of your men and they will follow you to the Devil ! " 

I never met a pleasanter set of fellows than the officers 
at T., for most of them had visited Europe and even 
America, either to study various military methods 
or on pleasure bent, and they had in either case appar- 
ently lost no time ! Champagne flowed like water 
every evening (this was ten years ago), and one night 
a concert and dance were organized in the barrack-yard 
with a score of privates as performers. Every Cossack 
is a born dancer, and the merry tinkle of a " balalaika " 



58 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

band eventually proved too much for the colonel 
(a grey-haired veteran of over six feet), who suddenly 
rose from his seat, hurriedly left the messroom, and the 
next moment was wildly " pirouetting " amongst his 
men with, notwithstanding a flowing robe and spurs, 
the grace and agility of a ballet-girl. Imagine a staid 
British field-officer under similar circumstances ! yet 
this and other outward signs of equality only serve to 
cement good feeling between all ranks here, although 
such laxity could scarcely exist elsewhere without 
deleterious effects. Anyhow I left T. less under the 
impression that I had been entertained by a cavalry 
regiment than by a happy and united family ! And, 
by the way, my hosts had a curious custom which was 
then new to me, but which I have since observed amongst 
Russians of the upper class. Nearly every man's gold 
cigarette-case had various little ornaments sunk into its 
surface in the shape of a crest or monogram, single 
sleeve-link, stud, coin, or other object which had been 
presented to the owner by intimate friends, and as 
these souvenirs were mostly composed of diamonds 
and other jewels, the effect was rather novel and 
attractive. 

I have never been fortunate enough to witness Cossacks 
engaged in actual warfare (for the Warsaw episode was 
merely a street-riot), but I had reason, on one memorable 
occasion, to appreciate the courage and resource which 
they invariably display at times of imminent peril. 
This occurred during my land-voyage from Paris to 
New York, when Stepan Rastorguyefi (a Siberian Cos- 
sack) was lent to me by the Russian Government at 
Yakutsk to accompany me for the remainder of that 
hazardous and hitherto unattempted journey.^ 

I will not weary the reader with a description of the 
difficulties overcome before a serious disaster overtook 
us in the neighbourhood of Tchaun Bay, on the frozen 
shores of the Arctic Ocean. To reach this we had 
travelled for over three weeks from the Kolyma river, 
and had here hoped to find natives and some food, for 
we were by this time reduced to fourteen frozen fish for 
nine men and sixty ravenous dogs. But we vainly 
^ See Paris to New York by Land, by the author. 







1: 



THE COSSACK: " STEFAN ' 



THE COSSACK 59 

searched that pitiless waste of ice for any signs of human 
Hfe, well knowing that to stop meant death from cold 
and starvation, so we struggled slowly and painfully 
onwards, growing weaker hour by hour. And, during 
that long day of agony, I and the others, overpowered 
by drowsiness and despair, lay down more than once in 
the snow, from which we might never have risen had it 
not been for Stepan, whose spirits never flagged for a 
moment as he trudged doggedly on with the indomitable 
pluck and tenacity of his warlike race. And it was 
solely owing to this brave fellow that on that very night, 
when things appeared to be on the verge of a fatal crisis, 
we sighted our longed-for goal — ^two miserable walrus- 
hide huts — which, however, meant deliverance from a 
lingering and painful death. And I can safely assert, 
as leader of the Expedition, that I and every member 
of it must that day have perished had it not been 
for my Cossack friend's invaluable encouragement and 
aid. 

However inhuman and rapacious the Cossacks may 
have been in the past, they have in the present war 
not only fought with even more than traditional bravery, 
but have shown a tolerance and kindness towards their 
prisoners which the latter would certainly not have 
displayed under reversed conditions. ^ And more than 
once, when Russia's legions have, from lack of munitions, 
been pressed back by overwhelming forces, the Cossacks 
have saved the situation, not only as skilful scouts, but 
resolute opponents, as the Austrians, especially, know 
to their cost. I recently met an English newspaper 
correspondent, just returned to London from the Russian 
front, who told me that he had one day conversed in 
Galicia with an Austrian Colonel of the " Radetsky 
Hussars." And the latter, who had been taken prisoner, 

^ " Sworn evidence of the cruelties practised by German prison 
guards upon Russian prisoners is contained in the latest report of the 
Russian Commission of Inquiry. 

" Torture by the drawing of nails, cutting of tongues, and tearing 
of ears has been inflicted upon Russians unwilling to betray their 
comrades. Men have been burned alive for the sheer amusement of 
their captors. 

" This has been sworn to by many prisoners and by a Russian sister 
of mercy *^ {Daily Mail, September 22, 1916). 



60 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

declared to my friend that he had hitherto been under 
the impression that his men would face anything in 
existence, but that he had been sadly disillusioned when 
(as the Austrian pathetically explained) " they met 
those damned Cossacks ! " 



CHAPTER VII 

SPORT, AMUSEMENTS AND FOOD 

Very few Russians care for sport in our English sense 
of the Avord, although their country is so well adapted 
for its enjoyment, which is practically within reach of all. 
Yet only members of the highest aristocracy regard 
it as seriously as the average Briton, having probably 
acquired a taste for its various branches in other countries 
but their own. A love of the chase and manly games is 
innate in every Briton, rich or poor, but even the young 
and stalwart Russian of independent means is generally 
an " indoor man," who only braves the elements when 
compelled to do so in order to transact public or private 
business, his leisure hours being generally spent at 
the club or card-table. Horse-racing has become popular 
of recent years (there is now a Russian " Derby " run at 
Moscow), but the public attend meetings more with the 
object of gambling than from any interest in the breeding 
or performances of the animals engaged. The Russian 
is also as a rule an indifferent horseman, who does not 
care to ride, but only drives, for pleasure, and then 
seldom handles the ribbons himself. I only once went 
out partridge-shooting with a Russian friend, who was 
got up for the occasion in a Mexican sombrero, long 
green coat, linen knickerbockers and side-spring boots, 
and spent most of the time crawling about on his 
stomach in order to shoot the birds before they could 
rise ! Yet my friend was a crack shot with a rifle, and 
could plug the ace of spades three times out of five with 
a duelling pistol at twelve paces. 

Big-game shooting in Russia is therefore restricted to 
the nobility, amongst whom bear-hunting is the most 
popular form of amusement, and also an expensive 
one; for it entails many preliminaries and innumerable 

61 



62 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

attendants and beaters, as I saw when once attending a 
battue on Prince V.'s estate not far from Petrograd. 
The best time for bear-shooting is in the early autumn 
when the first snow falls, and the quarry selects a secluded 
spot in the forest in which to hibernate. Many peasants 
make a living at this season by " ringing in " the beast, 
which is done by first finding its track and then starting 
at right angles from the latter and making a large 
circle around it in the snow. No further traces outside 
this boundary show that the bear has been successfully 
" ringed," but if any marks are visible beyond the first 
circle, another is made, this operation being repeated 
until an unbroken snowy surface denotes that the 
quarry has been roughly located. When, say, half a 
dozen bears have been thus traced to their lairs some 
wealthy sportsman in the nearest town is informed of 
the fact; and the animals are purchased by him for a 
good round sum (whether they are eventually killed or 
not) and a hunt organized. Meanwhile the various 
rings are continually watched daily to make sure that 
the bears have not escaped. 

We left Petrograd by train on a clear, calm November 
evening, arriving about eleven o'clock at night at a small 
railway station, where a number of sledges were awaiting 
us. We numbered a dozen guns, and on arrival at the 
appointed spot, fifty or sixty beaters surrounded the 
first ring and moved slowly forward with flaming torches, 
their advance being preceded by the discharge of two 
or three rifles to stir up Bruin. Fox terriers were also 
employed to indicate the latter's whereabouts, and we 
had not long to wait before a crashing of branches was 
heard, as the brute broke from his hiding-place and 
emerged into the open, where, as it was bright moon- 
light, he was plainly visible. Each man had a couple of 
rifles, a revolver, and hunting-knife, and every beater 
also carried a spear in case of a scrap at close quarters. 
In this case a cool head and steady nerves are essential, 
for in the event of a miss, it is useless to try and escape 
over deep snow, gnarled roots, and other obstacles. 
Indeed, this sport seemed so risky, that I was surprised 
to hear that accidents rarely occur. Only one bear 
fell to our guns that night, but he was a splendid fellow. 



SPORT, AMUSEMENTS AND FOOD 63 

brought down by a lucky shot from my nearest neigh- 
bour, about a hundred yards from where I was standing. 
The sport was therefore rather poor, although we did not 
return to the village until late the next morning, to do 
ample justice to an excellent breakfast which had been 
specially prepared by our host's chef in a beater's cottage. 

The nearest approach in Russia to fox-hunting is 
chasing wolves on horseback, with hounds, now well 
known in England as " borzois." Covers are drawn 
by sending mounted men through a wood with a number 
of dogs of any sort of breed — mongrels for choice, for 
they make the most noise ! Other horsemen select a 
spot in the open where the wolf is likely to break, each 
holding a " borzoi " (or perhaps a couple) which, as 
soon as the wolf dashes into the open, are slipped in 
pursuit, when horsemen, hounds, and yelping curs 
gallop madly in pursuit. When the wolf is pulled 
down the foremost rider dismounts and dispatches him 
with a hunting-knife — a ticklish operation which needs 
considerable skill and experience. In winter a different 
method is pursued, for it is then impossible, owing to 
deep snow, to follow on horseback, and wolves generally 
prowl about the country in packs. When one of them is 
located, a dead horse is placed near the spot to keep them 
from straying until the guns can reach the spot. 

Hawking is a favourite sport amongst the Tartars in 
the south, and in the northern provinces capercailzie 
and black-game shooting are popular amongst the 
upper classes. But game of all sorts abounds in Euro- 
pean Russia and Siberia, especially the latter, where in 
various districts wild geese, partridge, teal, widgeon, 
wild duck and snipe are found in unlimited quantities, 
for they are rarely shot at, but merely trapped for sale 
in the towns. 

The youth of Russia seems as little attracted by manly 
exercises as their elders are by sport. I have visited 
colleges and schools in all parts of the country and have 
never yet seen young men or boys engaged in gymnastics 
or healthy outdoor games such as cricket, football or 
rackets. Although there is plenty of opportunity, they 
seldom skate, but in winter spend their leisure hours 
indoors, or in summer idling about the streets of a town 



64 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

or village, unless there be a river or stream handy, when 
fishing, being a lazy employment, is rather popular. 
Occasionally youths are seen playing at " ball," or 
battledore and shuttlecock, but they never seem to 
indulge in any pastime involving trouble or muscular 
exertion, which is probably why lawn tennis has never 
really caught on in Russia. Parallel bars, trapezes 
and swings are erected in the garden of nearly every 
country house, but are hardly ever used from one year's 
end to another. Russians, however, of every age and 
class, are fond of tobogganing, ski-ing, and (those who 
can afford it) ice-yachting — one of the most fascinating 
amusements which I have ever enjoyed. The aris- 
tocracy join in these winter sports with the lower orders, 
and otherwise amuse themselves very much as they do in 
any other country — racing, yachting or pigeon-shooting, 
for which in winter-time they generally visit the south 
of France. Nearly everything in the world of sport is 
copied from the English, for whom, notwithstanding 
a popular belief to the contrary, our allies have always, 
even long before the war, evinced a sincere regard and 
admiration. 

The Russians are, like the French, great play-goers, but 
even the houses subsidized by the State lack the comfort 
of our English theatres, which in this respect are superior 
to those of Paris. Even the Opera House in Petrograd 
has a gloomy appearance, being less well lit and cared 
for than, say, Covent Garden, While although the former 
engages the finest operatic artists in the world, and its 
ballets are unrivalled, the scenery and mounting of 
the latter are generally inferior to those at the larger 
London music-halls. The best variety entertainments, 
even in the capital, are of a third-rate order, and it is 
perhaps because the Russians are such ardent lovers 
of their own classical music, that music-halls here are 
less extensively patronized than in other countries. 
On the other hand, the circus, which elsewhere in Europe 
appears to be dying out, is as popular here as ever. 

Most Russians prefer tragedy to comedy, especially 
lurid dramas of the Transpontine order, but of late 
years musical comedy of the Merry Widow type has 
become increasingly popular, although Petrograd and 



SPORT, AMUSEMENTS AND FOOD 65 

Moscow have up till now been spared the inane " Revue," 
which in England is such a misnomer, having nothing 
in common with the generally bright and clever satire 
on passing events which justifies its title in France. 
The Russian farce, like most Russian comic papers, is 
generally dull and lacking in humour ; but the works of 
Tolstoi, Turgenieff and other Russian authors are of 
course masterpieces which should only be portrayed by 
Russian artists, for when they are translated and played 
in English, the local atmosphere entirely disappears. 

The real Russian cuisine (although generally con- 
fined in England to " bortsch " and " caviare ") is, to my 
mind, the best in Europe. I do not here refer to wealthy 
private establishments where the chef is generally a 
Parisian, but to the style of cooking which corresponds to 
the French Cuisine Bourgeoise. The national dish, which 
appears in varying degrees of culinary excellence before 
both the millionaire and the " moujik," is " schtchi," 
which, although its chief component is the humble 
cabbage, is the most delicious soup in the worlds 
there being an old proverb which avers that " Schtchi, 
Tchai, and the Tchin, are the Muscovite's three divini- 
ties ! "1 For as roast beef, macaroni and " pumper- 
nickel "^ are respectively suggestive of a British, Italian 
and Teutonic appetite, so is " schtchi " inseparably 
linked with that of the Russian, whose first care on 
settling in a wild and lonely district is to sow cabbages, 
in order that this essential article of diet may be quickly 
forthcoming. There are, however, many varieties of 
" schtchi " ; the one which I preferred being that which 
is found in every humble household and made of shredded 
white cabbage, half a pound of pearl-barley, a quarter of 
a pound of butter, and mutton cut into small pieces, 
with two quarts of " kvas," although broth may be 
used instead of the latter. This may seem a very 
ordinary " recipe " but, even when I have specially 
ordered it in the best London and Paris restaurants, 
it has never tasted so good as in the poorest peasant's 

^ " Cabbage soup, tea, and the official world." 

^ This word is said to be derived from the fact that when Napoleon I. 
was offered one, he ate a mouthful and then gave it in disgust to his 
charger, remarking : " C'est seulement hon four ' Nichi} " 



66 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

" izba " in Russia. " Bortsch " is very much the same 
as " schtchi," only here cream is a necessary adjunct, 
and beetroot replaces cabbage as the chief ingredient. 

Nearly every winter dish here has, in summer, its 
cold counterpart, and " batvinia " is generally served 
in very hot weather instead of " schtchi," the former 
also being composed of " kvas " with various herbs, 
cucumber, cranberries, small slices of salmon and 
sturgeon, and plenty of ice. Another cold soup is 
" akroshka," which is almost similar but contains 
sliced apple and rissoles of " caviare." Both are excellent 
and would probably be much appreciated if introduced 
into England. 

Russians rarely roast their meat but prefer it boiled, 
and seldom eat bacon, sausages and similar dishes ; and 
I have never tasted, in any country, such delicious bread, 
or seen it baked in such innumerable forms, several 
varieties always accompanying early breakfast. Moscow 
is famous for its " kalatchi," which" are eaten through- 
out the length and breadth of the empire, and " blinis " 
(a kind of pancake, eaten with fresh "caviare ") are almost 
as popular and may now be had at the best London 
restaurants. Siberia is productive of thousands of edible 
wild berries, of which delicious preserves are made, for 
the jam here, like the bread, is the best I ever tasted. 
All kinds of pickles made in the country are served at 
every meal, also salads, not only of lettuce, but cherries, 
grapes and other fruits preserved in vinegar. 

The national beverage of Russia is " kvas,"^ which, as 
I have already remarked, is used not only as a drink, but 
also in cooking. It is a kind of small beer, which is 
generally seen at table instead of water, and is easily 
prepared by adding two pounds of barley meal, half a 
pound of salt, and a pound and a half of honey to a 
quart of water. The mixture is put in an oven overnight 
with a slow fire and left till next morning, when the fluid 
is strained off and kept till fit to drink in about a week. 
The cranberry grows here like a weed, and a syrup made 
from it is largely consumed now that " vodka " is no 
longer obtainable. 

^ According to the Chronicle of Nestor " kvas " was in use among 
the Sclavonians in the first century of our era. 



SPORT, AMUSEMENTS AND FOOD 67 

Most of the hotels and " restaurants " in Petrograd 
and Moscow have now adopted French cuHnary methods, 
but many places still exist in both cities where only 
Russian fare is provided, and these may easily be found 
on inquiry at any hotel. A Russian eating-house 
generally supplies soup, a rissole of minced meat, an 
entree, joint and sweet for a rouble. Russian cooking 
therefore possesses one advantage to the traveller not 
possessed of unlimited means : it is cheaper than any 
other, but it must be eaten in Russia, and nowhere else, 
to be fully appreciated. 



CHAPTER VIII 

FINLAND ^IN TOWN 

I MET him one evening in the bar of the " Hotel de 
France " at Petrograd, a genial person with flaxen 
beard and steely-blue eyes, who wore an ill-fitting, shiny 
black suit, vaguely suggestive of commercial travel or 
the mercantile marine. The stranger, to judge from 
his political opinions, was evidently not a Russian, 
although he spoke that language, French and English 
with equal facility. I was feeling depressed, having 
just been compelled to postpone an expedition to 
Arctic Siberia on which I had set my heart, and which 
was to have started within a month. So I accepted 
my new acquaintance's proffered cocktail as an anti- 
dote to gloomy thoughts, while the former condoled 
with me over the failure of plans which would, I ex- 
plained, keep me at a loose end throughout the approach- 
ing autumn. My companion's rejoinder then solved 
all my doubts as to his nationality. " You have time 
on your hands? " said he. " Why, then, not visit my 
country — Finland? " 

Finland ! I had always associated the name with 
desolate forests and stagnant lakes, where a few poverty- 
stricken natives on the coast subsisted by occasionally 
trading in fish, tar and timber. The only Finn I had 
hitherto met was an intemperate mariner on an American 
whaler, who had not inspired me with any desire to 
extend my acquaintance to his country or compatriots. 
Why, then, should I go to Finland? 

Simply because my conception of the country had 
been absurdly incorrect, according to this informant, 
whose glowing accounts of culture and progressive 
people, wonderful cities and boundless natural re- 
sources, I naturally received with some mistrust. 

68 



FINLAND— IN TOWN 69 

The Finnish capital, Helsingfors, he described as a 
miniature Paris, from which railways radiated to 
various places equally attractive from an historical, 
commercial and sporting point of view, while I was 
assured that a tour through the entire country need 
only occupy six weeks, which, as it was now early in 
August, would enable me to inspect it in warmth and 
comfort. And so easy and alluring was the plan of 
travel sketched out by my friend (who also promised 
me letters of introduction), that I resolved to take his 
advice and visit this remarkable land of which I had 
apparently formed such erroneous ideas. So it came 
to pass that, within twenty-four hours of coming to a 
decision, I found myself in Helsingfors, which, by the 
way, was reached, after a night's journey, in a comfort- 
able sleeping-car. 

Here let me briefly explain that Finland ^ (in Finnish, 
" Suomi ") is about the size of Great Britain, Holland 
and Belgium combined, with a population of about 
2,500,000,2 which includes a large number of Swedes. 
The country is flat and marshy from end to end, covered 
with dense forests, and honeycombed with the sheets 
of water known as the "Thousand Lakes," which vary 
from small ponds to an inland sea three times the size 
of the Lake of Geneva, and which with connecting 
canals form useful waterways. There is no river of 
any importance through the country, but rapids and 
falls abound, which are utilized not only for motive 
power, but for the floating of thousands of tons of 
lumber yearly from inland forests to the sea. 

Finland has endured many struggles and vicissitudes, 
for she has always been a bone of contention, and wars 
have been constantly waged between Russia and Sweden 
for the possession of this wild, but coveted, strip of 
territory. The Finns always fought as Swedish allies 
until the early part of the nineteenth century, when 
Russian rule was finally established over a race which, 
although at the outset was bitterly opposed to it, has 

^ The name Finland is derived from the old word, " finn," which 
signifies a wizard, or witch. 

2 Fifty years ago the Finns numbered about 1,500,000, and the latest 
census shows nearly double these figures. 



70 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

gradually learnt to appreciate the benefits to be derived 
from a wise and tolerant Government, to say nothing 
of a more powerful protectorate than that which it 
formerly enjoyed. German agents have in recent years 
(and in view of the present conflict) attempted to sow 
seeds of revolution throughout the country, and even 
at the present time there exists a certain section of 
malcontents (my Petrograd friend was one) who would 
welcome a Swedish restoration, especially as these 
people are so closely allied in every way with their 
Scandinavian neighbours. But the majority of the 
Finns are now content to remain Russian subjects, 
provided they are granted conditional Home Rule, and 
this they have now practically obtained. Countries 
annexed by Russia have generally been, so to speak, 
Russianized in a comparatively short space of time, 
such as, for instance, Poland, and more recently Central 
Asia, where, in Merv and Bokhara, the golden domes 
of the Greek Church now largely outnumber Mahometan 
minarets. But in Finland Swedish is the language of 
civilization, especially in the towns, Finnish being only 
spoken in the provinces, for this country, like France, 
has an irrepressible nationality which only centuries 
will finally eradicate. 

Helsingfors is not a very large place (it contains 
100,000 souls), but I was certainly surprised to find a 
town which, anywhere in Europe, would be considered 
imposing and well planned. Even the outlying districts 
are laid out with such care and cleanliness that this 
may be described as a " slumless " city, within the 
walls of which I never saw a beggar. The Finnish 
capital rather resembles Stockholm with a bit of Paris 
(in the shape of leafy boulevards) thrown in ; but even 
Paris lacks the pine-clad hills and breezy roadstead 
which render this place so attractive in summer-time, 
when I could not picture it under snow and swept by 
Arctic blizzards. One might be a thousand miles from 
Russia, for everything except the climate is different, 
from the neatness of towns and villages to the coinage, 
which here consists, not of " roubles " and " kopeks," 
but " pennis " and " marks." It was also a relief to 
escape the official supervision so prevalent over the border. 



FINLAND— IN TOWN 71 

A policeman at the railway station stopped me, as I 
thought, to examine my papers, which, however, he 
politely declined, while handing me a small brass disc 
with the number of my conveyance in case of over- 
charge or loss of property. And in most of the towns 
I was never even asked for my passport ! 

Finland has one peculiarity — ^the best hotel in every 
town is always named the " Societetshuset," which 
certainly saves unpleasant mistakes. The one at 
Helsingfors was a plain, unpretentious building, but 
very comfortable and up to date, every bedroom being 
provided with a telephone. The charges were most 
moderate, but this advantage I enjoyed (and not only 
as regards hotels) throughout the country. My windows 
at Helsingfors overlooked the blue harbour and busy 
quay, while inland a handsome cathedral dome towered 
over the fair white city, with roads winding from it into 
an endless panorama of pine forest, in which lakes shone 
here and there, like bits of crystal set in dark enamel. 
At right angles to the quays was the " Esplanade 
Gatan," ^ or chief thoroughfare, lined on one side by 
gardens, and the other by excellent shops, where I was 
able to purchase a good cigar which cost fourpence, 
and which I should have paid at least two shillings for 
in any Russian town, where cigars are seldom smoked, 
and are therefore generally bad and atrociously dear. 
There were also good libraries and bookshops, with all 
the latest English and French publications, but scarcely 
any Russian literature. The chemists alone were 
inferior, and I may add that the sale of the most 
innocuous patent medicine is strictly prohibited through- 
out Russia, where even a grain of calomel cannot be 
obtained without an order from a medical man. 

My letters of introduction included one to a distin- 
guished Professor at the University, who was justly 
proud of its college library, which contained 200,000 
volumes. Degrees are taken here in science, medicine 
and art by both sexes, and the girl graduates affect 
masculine tailor-made costumes and little velvet caps 
of various colours, such as are worn by Swiss students. 
For women here take a very prominent position in life, 
^ " Gatan," a street. 



72 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

being not only admitted as Members of Parliament, but 
employed as clerks in railways, banks and counting- 
houses, while in the country they work on the land and 
attend to horses and cattle. Yet I never met a militant 
suffragette in Finland, probably because equality of the 
sexes is regarded as a matter of course, and women are 
never compelled to sacrifice domesticity and refinement 
in order to uphold their " rights." 

As a rule Finnish women are flaxen-haired and blue- 
eyed, with well-developed figures, and generally incline 
to stoutness before middle age. They usually marry 
young, and anything like conjugal infidelity is, on either 
side, regarded as an unpardonable sin, for which the 
offender is eternally ostracized, although a divorce can 
be obtained on such trivial grounds as incompatibility 
of temper. Moreover, a husband need only be absent 
for a year, and if at the end of that time he does not 
reply to his wife's advertisement in the local newspapers, 
she is free to marry again. I have already referred to 
the immorality existing in certain capitals in Europe, 
of which, judging from what I saw of it, Helsingfors is 
certainly the most virtuous. There is not a music or 
dancing hall here which a lady may not visit alone 
without fear of annoyance, which is strange, seeing 
that Petrograd and Stockholm are within such easy 
distance. 

I met few Russians in Helsingfors, for they generally 
hold official appointments and do not associate much 
with Finns; but wherever I went throughout the 
country the Emperor of Russia and his consort were 
regarded by all classes with loyalty and respect, and I 
heard many instances of the kindness shown by members 
of the Imperial Family while in Finland, notably of one 
which is related of the late Alexander III. — when His 
Majesty was fishing one day, attended only by an 
equerry. Lunch was served in a woodcutter's hut on 
the banks of a trout stream which had been the scene 
of sport, and the Emperor was struck not only by the 
beauty of his humble hosts' daughter, but also by her 
dejected appearance, of which His Majesty inquired the 
cause. " Her betrothed is going away to-morrow to 
join the army," explained her father, " and she can't 



FINLAND— IN TOWN 73 

marry him, poor soul. The Tsar will want him too 
long for a soldier ! " 

" Indeed ? " said the Emperor, much amused. " Where 
is this unhappy lover? Bring him to me." 

A good-looking lad was summoned, and shyly con- 
fronted the stalwart stranger, who had now risen from 
the table, and was lighting a cigarette. 

" So you want to marry your pretty little sweet- 
heart, eh? " 

The boy awkwardly nodded assent. 

" Well, give her a kiss, and tell her you are not 
going away. General, see that this man is permanently 
exempted from military service." . And the Emperor 
turned to leave the place. 

" But, Excellency," cried the old woodcutter, trem- 
bling with amazement, " what will the Tsar " 

" I am the Tsar, my friend," said Alexander III., 
glancing back from the threshold; " Tsar of Russia in 
Petersburg, but here only Grand Duke of Finland ! " 

This anecdote is authentic, for it was told me by one 
who afterwards employed the youth in whom the 
Emperor had taken such a kindly interest. 

My friend the Professor was a character, and also a 
pleasant companion, and we made together many excur- 
sions around Helsingfors, one to the quaint old town of 
Borga to admire its cathedral, a wonderful specimen of 
early Finnish architecture, and visit the house of 
Runeberg, the poet-patriot, which remains as it was in 
his lifetime. Of pleasure resorts there was the island 
of Hogholm with its pretty park and restaurant; for 
the Finns, like the French, delight in open-air meals, 
and here, on a fine evening, crowds of people would 
assemble to dine under the trees, to the music of a fine 
orchestra. The gardens of Briinnsparken are reached 
in a few minutes by little steamers plying around the 
harbour, and this was a favourite resort of the Pro- 
fessor's, with whom I dined there, to find that Finnish 
" smorgasbord " was an even more formidable prelude 
to meals than " Zakuski," and I could scarcely face 
dinner after smoked and raw salmon, pink and grey 
caviare, many kinds of fish, smoked reindeer-tongues 
and potted meats. Then came " soupe a la bisque " (a 



74 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

speciality), followed by " flundra " — a delicious blend 
of the sole and sterlet, which only a Finnish cook can 
properly prepare. Roast partridge was the only piece 
de resistance, for in northern menus fish always pre- 
dominates, and, if you don't happen to care for it, to 
a rather superfluous extent. 

On the way home we landed at a little island occupied 
by the " Nyland Yacht Club," which, as usual on a 
summer night, was crowded with members. Here the 
Professor was joyfully welcomed, and, the evening being 
sultry, I was initiated into the mysteries of " miod," 
an amber-coloured beverage, composed of cider, many 
liqueurs, wild strawberries and chunks of ice, an appar- 
ently insidious but extremely potent beverage. Yet 
my companion and his friends drank it like water, but 
experience has shown me that, the further you go north, 
the more can man dispose of large quantities of alcoholic 
refreshment without apparent ill effects. Many mem- 
bers of the Nyland Yacht Club owned racing craft built 
in England, and their home resembled an English 
country house, with its oak-panelled rooms and cosy 
furniture. The theatre wound up an enjoyable even- 
ing, for although the piece was played in Swedish, I 
gradually realized that it was the Private Secretary, 
which was so well acted that its performance might 
have earned even the appreciation of its original pro- 
ducer in England — my old friend Charles Hawtrey. 

The fortress of Sveaborg, within easy distance of 
Helsingfors, is, under present conditions, of consider- 
able interest, and the steamer by which I journeyed to 
it across the harbour was crowded with Russian officers 
returning from leave, for this Gibraltar of the North is 
as jealously guarded as its Mediterranean prototype. 
From the moment I landed, shifty-eyed, plain-clothes 
men strolled after me, while sentries waved me sternly 
away from the more important works. Sveaborg is 
now practically impregnable, having been greatly 
strengthened since Crimean days, and even then the 
allied French and English bombardment had as little 
effect upon it as a fly buzzing against a battleship. 
Previously to this the fortress (or rather succession of 
forts) capitulated to Russia in 1808, but only under 



FINLAND— IN TOWN 75 

similar conditions to those by which Metz was treacher- 
ously ceded to the Germans in 1870, for the Swedish 
commander, Admiral Cronstedt, surrendered with 6000 
men and two ships of the line without firing a shot. 
Sveaborg has now a garrison of 10,000 men, the heaviest 
and most modern type of guns, and is provisioned to 
sustain a siege of five years. The Kaiser's fleet will 
therefore find it a very hard nut to crack — if they ever 
attempt to crack it ! 

As I have previously said, summer here is very 
delightful, although not so gay as the winter season, 
with its sledging parties, ski matches and skating, 
which latter is here a national pastime, although in 
Russia you seldom see a pair of skates. Helsingfors 
has a huge open-air rink where thousands of people 
congregate at night in the glare of electric light, and 
there are also trotting races on the ice, for which horses 
are sent from long distances to compete, and ice-boat 
contests over the mirror -like surface of the frozen lakes ; 
so that, what with outdoor sports by day, and dinner- 
parties, theatres and dancing at night, there are many 
duller places in winter than this. Even in wet weather 
one need never feel bored, for there are spacious arcades 
which, though perhaps not so gay as the Palais Royal, 
afford amusement and a comfortable shelter on a rainy 
afternoon. 

I stayed for a couple of days at Viborg (where only 
a ruined citadel now remains of the first settlement 
built in Finland by the Swedes), and having an intro- 
duction to its owner, called one day at a pretty villa 
embowered in creepers and honeysuckle, overlooking a 
picturesque lake. Surrounding the latter were similar 
dwellings, each with its tiny landing-place, trim garden, 
and smooth lawn sloping down to the water, from a 
background of pine forest, cleared, here and there, into 
meadowland flecked with yellow gorse. My host and 
his wife received me on their little private jetty, to 
which was attached a flotilla of pleasure-boats brought 
by friends, for I arrived on the joyful occasion of a 
golden wedding, then being celebrated by a dance 
which, commencing in the afternoon, did not terminate 
until the next day ! But everything was admirably 



76 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

done — although some of the male guests wore rather 
fanciful evening dress, which started well with a swallow- 
tail coat, but lapsed into lavender-coloured pants and 
canvas shoes ! 

There were no seats and therefore no " wall-flowers " 
in the ball-room, where even aged couples circled 
gravely around to the strains of the latest valse or 
polka. The younger women wore white, and might 
have passed for English country girls, though the latter 
would hardly have moved with such grace through the 
mazes of the Russian " mazurka," which is an intricate 
gavotte-like measure, unlike the one which was formerly 
danced in England. And there was a charming in- 
formality about the proceedings, where every one 
seemed gay, good-humoured, and polite, that recalled 
similar entertainments in far-away France. 

Coffee was served as the departing guests assembled 
on the landing-stage, and our host's white steam-launch 
then bore us swiftly back to Viborg, which, as we 
neared it, was emerging into sunshine from the chilly 
mists of dawn. And I v/ent sleepily to bed, scarcely 
able to realize that this was the Finland which I had 
pictured so differently only one short week ago ! 



CHAPTER IX 

riNLAND^ — IN THE COUNTRY 

My friend the Professor was portly, well on in the 
sixties, and had lived every day of his life, yet, like 
most hardy Northerners, he had contrived to retain the 
mental and physical vigour of a middle-aged man. 
Also, being a naturalist, various travels in the wilds 
had imbued him with the contempt for time and mileage 
which I have often noticed amongst Russians, especially 
in that land of stupendous distances, Siberia. For 
instance, this light-hearted scientist one morning sug- 
gested a visit to an adjacent island by penny steamer, 
and the next moment exclaimed, as if struck by a 
bright idea : " No ! We will go to our seaside resort, 
Hango," which was as if a short trip to, say, Richmond, 
had been suddenly abandoned in favour of a journey to 
York ! For Hango meant at least six hours by rail, 
which my companion would cheerfully have undertaken 
without luggage and the vaguest idea as to our return ! 
But I have known aged Siberians, whose English proto- 
types would need a Bath chair, think nothing of several 
days in an open sleigh, with 40° below zero, and only 
frozen fish to subsist on ! 

Anyway, we did not go to Hango, and the next day 
found me on a train bound for the famous falls of 
Imatra, the Professor accompanying me to the station, 
where he stacked up the carriage-rack with Finnish 
newspapers, probably to impress me with their number 
and importance (for he must have known I could not 
read them !), of which the Finns have reason to be 
proud. For there is now no town of any importance 
in the country without its newspaper, while Helsingfors 
publishes half a dozen in the Finnish and Swedish 
languages. Some of them were nearly twice the 

77 



78 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

dimensions of a London daily (for advertisement is the 
rage here), and contained reviews of tales and articles 
in several weekly and monthly magazines also published 
in the capital. I had already been shown in Helsingfors 
some exquisite specimens of local printing and engrav- 
ing, notably a wonderful atlas ^ containing thirty-odd 
maps of Finland, and giving, by means of coloured 
plans, every interesting detail connected with the latter 
concerning education, meteorology, agriculture, com- 
munications, industries and mines. Even the innumer- 
able lighthouses and beacons on and off the coast were 
classified with a care and precision which must have 
entailed years of research. 

Railway fares in Finland are so cheap that you may 
cover nearly the entire railway system for the price of 
a first-class return ticket between London and East- 
bourne ! I travelled second-class, and my fellow -pas- 
sengers displayed, like all Finns, a curiosity which in 
any other country would have savoured of imperti- 
nence. "Where are you going?" "Are you mar- 
ried?" "What is your income?" were some of the 
questions to which I replied, for they were put in a 
childish way that disarmed resentment, and the cross- 
examination was generally followed by unsolicited 
details concerning the questioner's own private affairs ! 
The latter was on this occasion a brewer, with whom I 
shared a pint of his own excellent " pilsener " (brewed 
in Helsingfors ^), and who voluntarily informed me that 
he suffered severely from gout, was a widower with an 
income of £500 a year, and had seven children. This 
communicative companion was the essence of good- 
humour until a well-dressed Russian woman entered 
the compartment and proceeded to light a cigarette, 
when he could hardly conceal his indignation and 
disgust, for smoking in Finland amongst women is 
unknown. 

I was disappointed in the Imatra Falls, probably 
because they had been described to me in Helsingfors 
as the finest in the world, with the tiresome reiteration 

^ Atlas de Finlande. Helsingfors, 1899. Socidte Anonyme. F. Tilg- 
mann. 

* There are fifty breweries in operation throughout Finland. 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 79 

that I have had to undergo in Japan and Austraha 
anent the beauties of Fujiyama or Sydney harbour ! 
The Finnish falls are, however, picturesque, and rush 
down a defile of precipitous cliffs with such a deafening 
roar that, although you could pitch a biscuit from shore 
to shore, the report of a gun at your elbow would be 
almost inaudible; and they were most impressive at 
night, when their foaming waters resembled a cascade 
of molten silver under the rays of electric light. The 
River Vuoksi, of which they form part, is a fisherman's 
paradise, and portions of it are reserved by an English 
Club at Petrograd, the members of which have erected 
a residential clubhouse on the spot. Trout run up to 
twenty-five pounds (the best months are from June to 
September), and you fish from a boat which is pro- 
vided at the hotel, with an experienced man, for five 
marks a day. Local fishermen use a light salmon -rod 
with a fine, strong line terminating with a salmon 
collar, which should have a trace of fine, single grey gut 
attached to it. Two or three yards of collar with swivels 
should be used, and the finer the gut the better. The 
brown palmer is the best fly, the best minnows " Totnes " 
and " Phantom," and early morning and sundown the 
best time of day. In July the grayling are plentiful, 
and salmon are also caught near the Vallenkoski Rapids, 
a few miles down stream, but the northern lakes and 
rivers are best for these. An Englishman can always 
obtain a free permit to fish from the Petrograd Club, 
and also use its quarters if he prefers them to the hotel, 
which is also very comfortable. 

One great charm of Finland in summer is that you 
can generally get from one place to another by steamer, 
for lakes and canals are interwoven into the most 
perfect system of inland water communication in the 
world. Even the smallest sheet of water has its service 
of steamers with every comfort on board, for the Finnish 
waterways cost 25,000,000 marks, and a yearly expen- 
diture of 250,000 marks, the Saima Canal, which unites 
Lake Ladoga with the Gulf of Bothnia, being forty 
miles long. A cheap and enjoyable trip was made by 
a friend of the writer, who travelled in a " Rob Roy " 
canoe for over a month through the country, without 



80 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

once revisiting the same spot, and getting excellent 
fishing every day, with nothing to pay for it. 

So, the weather being fine, I travelled as far as I 
could from Imatra by steamer to Tammerfors, passing 
by Keparasen, a lovely spot, where Satan is said to have 
tempted our Saviour. The country looked fresh and 
green, and they were getting in the hay, much later than 
we do in England and on a different system, by laying it on 
horizontal poles a few feet from the ground, where it dries 
more rapidly. Meadows in Finland are, as in Russia, 
enclosed by only wooden palisades, which lack the homely 
look of our English leafy hedges and grassy banks. 

Tammerfors, the " Manchester of Finland," is more 
like a pleasure resort than an important commercial 
centre, this being due to the fact that fuel is rarely used 
here, only water being employed for motive power. 
The latter is lavishly supplied by a narrow but turbulent 
river connecting two great lakes, which enables manu- 
facturers to run their machinery at an almost nominal 
cost, while in England it would entail an enormous 
expenditure. This once small and unimportant place 
owes its wealth and prosperity to Alexander I. of 
Russia, who, while on a visit here, conceived the idea 
of developing the latent resources of the district by 
utilizing its water-power, which was then being wasted. 
And the Tsar's ingenious idea was quickly adopted by 
the Finns, with the result that Tammerfors is now the 
third largest town in the country. 

I arrived here early on a Sunday to find the streets 
deserted, for the Finns are strict Lutherans, and 
throughout the morning every one was in church ! 
But during the afternoon the park and a military band 
attracted crowds of people, where artisans, workmen 
and factory girls sat under the trees, eating ices and 
enjoying the music, in close association with their 
wealthy employers, for in Finland there is little or no 
class distinction. And as I strolled about I heard 
English frequently spoken, for many of the mills and 
foundries here employ overseers and occasionally skilled 
mill-hands from England; indeed, I conversed with a 
Lancashire lad who seemed quite unimpressed by his 
picturesque surroundings, preferring Manchester, with 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 81 

all its darkness and perpetual rain. There were no 
amusements, he complained, no music-halls or pictures ; 
and this was true, for by 11 p.m. the moonlit streets 
were cleared of every living being save policemen. So 
I also retired early, to fall asleep to that eternal Finnish 
lullaby, the sound of falling water. 

Even the busiest quarters of Tammerfors are attrac- 
tive, for the mighty river which brought the latter 
prosperity rushes through them, the torrent being 
spanned by a granite bridge from which one can watch 
the waters foaming through an avenue of mills and 
manufactories, to mingle with the placid blue waters 
of Lake Nasijarvi, a few miles away. Just below the 
bridge is a tiny island, and on it the " Stromparterren " 
Restaurant (noted for a local delicacy, fried sprats), 
and on the left bank the mansion and beautiful gardens 
of Mr. Notbeck — a wealthy millowner whose fortune 
was derived from the manufacture of paper, the chief 
article of export here. A few years ago only the coarsest 
stuff was turned out for local use, but since the adop- 
tion of modern machinery this town provides the leading 
capitals of Europe with the most experisive qualities, 
extracted from pine and poplar pulp. Celluloid is also 
produced in large quantities, and both these articles 
are put on the market at a much lower price than if 
steam were employed. In 1874 only 1,000,000 kilograms 
of paper were exported yearly, and now over thirty 
times that amount is sent out of the country — chiefly 
to Great Britain. 

The output of cloth has increased here during the 
last twenty years in the same proportion, and this is 
of the finest (and also shoddiest) description, the former 
being almost equal to English make. I visited a factory 
where over 1600 hands were employed, and where 
tweeds, especially, were turned out with special regard 
to durability and good taste. My English friend in the 
park was receiving three times the wages he received 
at home, and although Tammerfors employs over 10,000 
workpeople a strike has never been known there, and 
probably never will, so long as the cordiality which now 
exists between capital and labour continues. For 
" sweating " in Finland is unknown. 

G 



82 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

But the industries of this prosperous Httle town are 
not Hmited to cloth and paper, for it has also iron- 
foundries, besides factories producing furniture, glass, 
china, matches, and even aerated waters ; and this 
reminds me that when, at the local " Societetshuset," 
I ordered Vichy water, it was brought in a transparent 
bottle with a red label inscribed " Made in Helsingfors " ! 
I then called for ApoUinaris, and in this case the bottle, 
although genuine, bore a notice stating that its contents 
had been " Manufactured in Vasa " ! 

The roads in Finland are good, and I motored from 
here to the rapids of Nokia, ten miles distant, a charm- 
ing drive through fragrant pine woods carpeted with 
wild flowers. We passed on the way a timber shoot, 
where lumber is hauled from the head of the lake 
system, north of Tammerfors, about a mile over a steep 
hill, and floated down stream to Lake Nasijarvi. Over 
a million logs are thus transported yearly from this 
place alone to the steam saw-mills of Bjorneborg on 
the sea-coast.^ Returning home we passed some grimy 
tents by the roadside, where a group of swarthy, ragged 
men and olive-skinned, dark-eyed women, in gaudy 
robes and cheap jewellery, sat round a camp-fire. They 
waved a welcome, and informed me that they were 
Rumanian gipsies, who had taken over two years to 
travel here from the plains of Hungary. 

If Tammerfors is wealthy, so are its outskirts, as I 
soon discovered at a large dairy farm not far from the 
town, where I learnt that a large proportion of the 
butter consumed in England as " Danish " really comes 
from here. The farm which I visited might have been 
in England, with its old-fashioned garden, ivy-clad walls, 
and lattice windows overlooking grazing grounds 
thousands of acres in extent. Their owner informed 
me that the number of cattle in his possession ran into 
four figures, and that of late years the breed had been 
greatly improved by the importation of foreign stock, 
chiefly from Holland and Ayrshire. There are hundreds 
of these large steam dairies in the southern districts, 
where almost every town has its school of instruction 

1 The export for 1897 was £1,137,121, but this has now been con- 
siderably increased. 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 83 

in farm and dairy work — for the Government encourages 
this branch of industry, the State railways providing 
specially constructed milk and butter cars, heated or 
cooled according to the season. 

Finland is an idyllic place for dairy-farming, and only 
a small capital is needed to make a start, for grazing 
is cheap, and water and ice cost nothing. Only the 
winter cold and swarms of mosquitoes in summer pre- 
sent any serious difficulties, especially the latter, which 
often render it impossible to milk in the open, so that 
in the evening fires are lit in the fields, and the cows 
stand in their smoke until the operation is over. The 
dairies, long, low buildings with numerous ice chambers, 
were admirably contrived, and looked deliciously cool 
with their marble flooring, blue-tiled walls, and endless 
rows of shelves supporting great earthenware dishes of 
milk, cream and butter. In another building a number 
of women were putting up the latter for export, and 
most of it was going to England, of course via Denmark, 
where it was, so to speak, to be naturalized and re- 
christened. This trade, I may add, has largely increased 
since ice-breakers at Hango have opened up navigation 
throughout the winter. 

My host was also a breeder of horses, and I inspected 
his extensive paddocks, which contained several useful- 
looking brood mares of foreign importation. The 
Finnish horse is of Tartar breed, a tough, wiry little 
beast, well adapted for ploughing, but very rough for 
riding purposes. A young, sound horse fetched from 
ten to twelve pounds, but these prices have probably 
increased since the war. Even before it, from eight to 
ten thousand Finnish horses were annually sent to 
Russia and Sweden, where they made a good profit. 

I supped with my host and his charming wife, who 
in the evening entertained us with Finnish folk-songs ^ 
on the " kantele," a kind of zither — and the national 
instrument. Madame was a Karelian, who are all born 
artists and musicians, and who, although Finlanders, 
entirely differ in customs, and even appearance, from 
the Tavastlanders, who occupy the south-western parts 

1 A volume of these, entitled the Kanteletar, may be had at any 
music-shop in Helsingfors. 



84 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

of the country, while the Karelians live in its northern 
and eastern districts. The greatest poets and com- 
posers are of the Karelian stock, whose women are 
famed for their beauty, while the men are as Bohemian 
and indolent in their mode of life as the Tavastlander 
is plodding and industrious. An old Finnish proverb, 
■' Karelia for pleasure, Tavastland for work," aptly 
describes the marked difference between these two 
Finnish races, a mixture of which is found in the 
" Savolax " (between Karelia and Tavastland), which 
has also produced many distinguished literary men. 

At least one-third of the towns and villages in Finland 
have names ending in " joki " or " jarvi," ^ which is 
not surprising seeing that the former signifies a river 
and the latter a lake, while "koski" (or rapids) is also 
a common termination. And it is as well to know, 
before visiting this country, that nearly every town in 
it has a double name : Helsingfors (Helmski), Tampere 
(Tammerfors), and a host of others. Fortunately, the 
second appellation generally has a slight resemblance to 
the first, although the town I now visited is called 
Vasa — ^Nikolaistad ; the first being Finnish, and derived 
from the great Gustavus, while the second was be- 
stowed in honour of Nicholas II., Tsar of Russia. Rus- 
sians therefore call the place " Nikolaistad," while Finns 
know it as " Vasa," which occasionally leads to awkward 
mistakes in the postal department. 

Vasa lacks the commercial activity of other Finnish 
towns, as was shown by the fact that only two ram- 
shackle vehicles awaited the arrival of the train, and, 
for once in a way, there was no " Societetshuset," the 
best hotel being called the " Central," this being a 
Swedish innovation. For in Vasa ultra-Swedish manners 
and customs prevailed, and portraits of the Tsar and 
Tsarina in public rooms were here replaced by those of 
King Oscar and his consort. No one, of course, spoke 
Russian, and in order to find my way about I drew my 
requirements on bits of paper — a method which I had 
found useful amongst the Tchuktchis on Bering Straits, 
but which here signally failed. For unless you speak 
his language without a trace of foreign accent no Swede 
1 The letter " J 'Ms pronounced as " Y.'* 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 85 

will understand you, and even the simple word dgge, 
which so closely resembles egg in English, and means the 
same thing, seemed beyond his powers of comprehension. 

Vasa (which contains about 15,000 inhabitants) was 
the least attractive town that I visited, perhaps because 
the soil, owing to its rich and fertile nature, is so dark ; 
for this is essentially a grain-producing district, oats, 
barley and rye being largely exported, and most of the 
atter finding its way to Russia. There were therefore 
large stores for the sale of the agricultural implements 
(the land here is now chiefly cultivated by steam), and 
although England formerly furnished the machinery 
employed, there are now excellent local manufactories 
of steel and iron work, so that in a few years' time 
there will probably be no market here for British goods 
of this description. It is, however, consoling to think 
that, before the war, Germany had started several 
foundries for their production, which have, of course, 
now been confiscated. 

Brando, about a mile distant, is the port of Vasa, a 
lovely spot, the beauty of which is rather marred by 
the cranes and grain elevators erected along its wliarves. 
I strolled down here one evening when a glorious sunset 
was darkening the pine-clad shores of the fjord, which 
gleamed like burnished steel in the twilight. The quays 
were, at this hour, deserted, and silent save for the 
shrill notes of a concertina played by a solitary figure 
on the deck of a steamer alongside the pier. Swedish 
colours drooped over her stern, but the musician, quickly 
recognizing a compatriot, put down his instrument and 
invited me, in broad Scotch, to board the vessel and 
partake of a whisky-and-soda. My white-haired but 
sturdy host was now chief engineer of the Karl XV., 
but had started life on an ocean tramp, managed an 
Alaskan saw-mill, and driven a steam whaler, before 
settling down in the Baltic timber trade, which, as pay 
was good and work easy, he had no intention of leaving. 

This canny Scot was well posted in local maritime 
commerce, but I was chiefly interested in his personal 
experiences of the Baltic — that perilous northern sea 
which in summer swarms with shipping, but over 
which in winter you can almost walk dry-shod over 



86 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

the ice from Brando to Sweden. Mr. Macfie cared little 
for storms, but owned to a wholesome dread of fog on 
this rocky coast which bristles with reefs and shoals, 
while there are as many islands off it as lakes inland — 
islands of all sizes, from that of the Isle of Wight to 
small, jagged rocks just awash, that would not harbour 
a dog.i The shores of Finland, however, are as well 
lit as those of Great Britain, the hydrographic survey 
having been carried out solely by the Finns, a task 
that entailed an enormous amount of expense and 
labour. Sixty years ago a ship had to grope her way 
guided only by beacons and roughly constructed land- 
marks, but the pilot and lighthouse service are now as 
carefully organized as any in Europe; in fact (as my 
Scotch friend put it), this coast is as well lit as Regent 
Street, and in clear weather a vessel need never drop 
one light without picking up another. Survey work 
alone costs Finland over 100,000 marks a year, while 
there are no less than 182 lighthouses,^ many of the 
latter being stationed in the crowded archipelago off 
the coast. Of these the Bagskav Light (situated on a 
lonely rock far out at sea) is the most modern, being 
constructed of iron, with cemented foundation of great 
depth. This lighthouse cost over 500,000 marks to 
erect, with, owing to its exposed position, the loss of 
many lives. 

Uleaborg {alias Oulu) was the terminus of my journey 
and the last town I visited in Finland, for it is situated 
only a few miles from the borders of Lapland. A few 
miles north of Vasa the line bisects great plains, with 
sparse belts of woodland, and the cold, crisp air of the 
Arctic, with its typical scent of coarse verdure and 
lichens, stole in at the carriage windows. Many tourists 
would surely visit these parts were they better known ; 
for although other parts of the world may be attractive, 
give me a summer in the Far North, with its bright, 
sunlit days and calm grey nights which exhilarate like 
champagne, and render the smoke of a camp-fire more 
fragrant than the perfume of flowers. Of course there 

^ At one spot there are over 600 crowded into a space of six square 
miles. 
* These entail a yearly expenditure of nearly 3,000,000 marks. 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 87 

are mosquitoes, but they are a minor discomfort com- 
pared to the mental and physical benefits to be 
derived from such perfect climatic conditions. And 
winter up here is almost as enjoyable, notwithstanding 
unpleasantly low temperatures and occasional scarcity 
of food. To paraphrase a famous poet : " If you have 
heard the North a-calling you will never heed aught 
else ! " and although I have suffered more than once 
in frozen regions from the deadly grip of cold and 
hunger, it is there that I always wish to return. 

Uleaborg is less modern than other Finnish cities, 
and its old-fashioned buildings and cobbled streets 
were more suggestive of some sleepy English seaport 
than an important foreign mercantile centre. The 
town, however, possessed a " Societetshuset " of such 
palatial exterior that it might have graced the shores 
of a Swiss lake, although only four of its hundred rooms 
were occupied. I partook of a meal (facetiously de- 
scribed as "dinner") in a huge restaurant which, 
although deserted save for a solitary waiter and myself, 
contained an empty music gallery, which loomed sadly 
through the dusk. This leviathan building had been 
erected in anticipation of many guests, which the 
railway, then in course of construction to the Swedish 
frontier, has by now, let us hope, provided. 

There was little to be seen here of interest with the 
exception of the tar stores at Toppila, which, although 
two miles away, wafted their clean, pungent odour into 
my bedroom at the hotel. Steamers of every nationality 
lay alongside the quay, loading the barrels which ex- 
tended for half a mile along the waterside, for 70,000 
to 80,000 of these are collected every summer for 
exportation. In fact, I was told that most of the tar 
used in Europe comes from here, although, like " Danish" 
butter, it is known as " Stockholm tar." 

Captain Ekholm (who has resided here for many 
years and to whom I had an introduction) gave me 
some interesting facts concerning this product, the 
trade in which has declined of late years, owing to the 
increased value of timber and scarcity of labour. And 
I learnt that tar is now obtained in precisely the same 
manner as it has been for centuries : by piling timber 



88 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

in a huge stack on an elevated platform, which is 
bricked over, its interior sloping inwards from every 
side to an aperture in the centre, which leads into a 
vat below. The wood is then covered with a thick 
layer of earth and turf, and having been ignited from 
below, combustion continues until the pile sinks in. 
In about ten days the tar has flowed into barrels and is 
ready for exportation. 

The proprietor of the Toppila wharf also worked 
lumber to the tune of about £70,000 a year, and I 
noticed in his office an interesting plan showing the 
various exports of Finland at a glance, by means of 
numbered cubes. Timber came first with 120, wood 
pulp and cereals at 38 each, and finally, paper, butter 
and tar at 28, 25 and 24 respectively. Captain Ekholm's 
distinguished career in the mercantile navy had led to 
his appointment as Director of the Naval College here, 
and he told me that even thirty years ago 25 per cent, 
of the population was under experienced tuition. 
Uleaborg boasted, when I was there, of seven schools 
for the upper and middle classes, besides five for the 
children of the poor. 

My informant was a keen sportsman, in whose opinion 
Uleaborg is the best place in Finland for all-round 
sport, the Oulojoki, near by, being one of the finest 
salmon rivers in the world, yearly producing 90,000 
marks in the short netting season from June to the 
end of August. Kajana, on Lake Oulujarvi, is the 
easiest place to fish from, and there is a comfortable 
inn, where rough shooting may also be had. The 
Kajana river teems with trout and grayling, and here 
the best flies are those used on Scotch rivers. A permit 
for the season may be obtained at the Kajana Hotel 
for about sixteen shillings, wherefore English sports- 
men have drifted up here of late, and their number is 
yearly increasing. Ekholm related an amusing anec- 
dote anent one of these, a stout and choleric Londoner, 
who bitterly complained of the snail-like pace at which 
he was driven every morning to the place of sport. 
He therefore begged the village pastor, with whom he 
lodged, to acquaint him with some startling Finnish 
oath in order to compel the shock-headed lout who 



FINLAND— IN THE COUNTRY 89 

drove his " karra " to quicken the pace, and the re- 
quired expletive was smiHngly imparted. Nor was it 
long before the native swear-word was put into requisi- 
tion, but for some time it had no effect whatever on 
the clodhopper's stolid brain. " Rakastansunia ! " re- 
peatedly yelled the infuriated passenger, finally leaping 
to the ground and violently seizing the driver, who, 
with an expression of terror on his face, suddenly 
dropped the reins, jumped out of the vehicle, and ran 
for his life across country, while the horse galloped away 
down the road, leaving the discomfited sportsman 
stranded. An hour later an exhausted, but still en- 
raged, Briton staggered into the nearest post-house 
(where his driver had taken refuge), and explained 
what had occurred to the postmaster, who spoke a few 
words of English. " Rakastansunia ! " repeated the 
latter, shaking with inward laughter. " No wonder the 
lad thought you had taken leave of your senses ! Why., 
it means, ' I love you ' ! " , 



CHAPTER X 

THE ARMY 

The Russian Army appears to be, generally speaking, 
an unknown quantity in England, where, at the present 
day, no two persons ever seem to agree regarding its 
numerical strength, or capacity of dealing a decisive 
blow in the allied cause. One man will declare that 
Russia must, sooner or later, annihilate our common 
foe, while another will assure you with equal confidence, 
that our ally's position was hopeless from the first, 
and that every third man in her ranks is now reduced 
to fighting with a scythe ! The truth here probably lies, 
as usual, between two extremes, and a brief statement 
of what I know, from personal experience, of Russia's 
military power, may perhaps enable the reader to form 
a clearer conception of its strength and organization than 
the vague assertions of those whose knowledge is chiefly 
derived from English newspapers. 

Let us first clearly realize that the population of Russia 
is now 180,000,000, which outnumbers that of Germany 
by well over 100,000,000, and while the former is in- 
creased every year by 3,000,000, the latter only annu- 
ally adds about 1,000,000 to her 70,000,000.^ It may 
therefore not unreasonably be assumed that a nation, 
which even now contains 60,000,000 people more than 
Germany and Austria-Hungary combined, and must, at 
the present rate of progression, number within the next 
fifty years something like 300,000,000 souls, is not likely 
to experience a shortage of men for the purpose of carry- 
ing on the present campaign, even should the latter be 
indefinitely prolonged, and in this titanic struggle men, 

1 The British Empire has 435,000,000 to its credit, China comes 
second with 400,000,000 and Russia third with 180,000,000. Germany 
and the dual monarchy contain about 120,000,000 souls. 

90 



THE ARMY 91 

like money, must tell in the end. Russia's financial 
position is equally satisfactory, for her revenue amounted 
in 1914 to over £350,000,000 exclusive of the French 
loans obtained since the Japanese War, which were 
chiefly expended on the army and navy. Above all, 
Russia is entirely a self-supporting country, and as the 
billions of tons of grain which were formerly exported to 
all parts of the world now remain within the empire, 
the latter is, unlike other belligerent nations, suffering 
not from a scarcity, but a superabundance of food. For 
it is an undisputed fact that Siberia alone could feed 
the whole of Europe.^ 

Russian military service begins at the age of twenty 
and ends at forty-three. About 250,000 men annu- 
ally come up for enrolment, and of these only undeniably 
strong and healthy recruits are chosen, many being 
rejected for trivial ailments or infirmities which in any 
other country would pass unnoticed by a Medical 
Board, although the standard of height is very low, 
being five feet for the line, and three inches higher for 
the cavalry. Russia has in peace-time not one, but three 
distinct armies : those of Europe, Asia and the Caucasus, 
which in the aggregate amount, on a war footing, to 
about 8,000,000 men, this number including the 
reserves, but not the Cossacks or " Opolchenie " (a kind 
of " Landsturm "), which may collectively be estimated 
at another 2,000,000. The latter is practically a 
territorial force, divided into two classes : the first 
including not only men who have served their time in the 
line and reserve, but also young recruits who have been 
rejected as being superfluous from the regulars; and the 
second, the levy en masse, which is only raised in war- 
time, when those previously exempted for various 
reasons are called up to join the colours. Besides all 
these, about 50,000 men are permanently employed to 
guard the railways, and there are also about 30,000 
" Gendarmerie," both these forces being composed of old 
soldiers drafted, on attaining a certain age, from more 
active branches of the service. 

1 It is estimated that Russia grows 51 per cent, of the rye, 25 per 
cent, of the oats, 33 per cent, of the barley, and 22 per cent, of the 
wheat harvested all over the world. 



92 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

A Russian line regiment ^ numbers in peace-time 
2000, and on campaign no less than 4000 men, and 
ordinary cavalry regiments have six squadrons of 
1000 men, but Cossack units have only 600 troopers 
divided into " sotnias " of about 125 each. An 
army corps is composed of from 200,000 to 300,000 
men (on a peace footing), and these are stationed 
at Petrograd, Moscow, Kieff and other large cities. 
There are also one in Finland, one in the Caucasus, 
and two in Central Asia. A division is composed of 
two brigades of two regiments of four battalions, also 
an artillery brigade of field batteries with ammunition 
columns, engineer train and half a dozen " sotnias " of 
Cossacks. 

An artillery brigade has six batteries and each of the 
latter eight three-inch field-guns, the horse artillery 
being provided with quick-firing Schneider-Creuzots of 
three-inch calibre. What Russia now chiefly lacks is 
heavy siege armament, most of that which she possesses 
having been made by Krupp of Essen, although the 
Russian arsenals at Obukoft and Sestoretsk are also 
providing a rapidly increasing supply in addition to 
that which is being obtained from Japan and has been 
captured from the enemy. 

The Russian cavalry includes sixteen divisions, in 
addition to the two Life Guards divisions (sixteen regi- 
ments) and four brigades of two regiments each. Each 
division has two brigades, and each brigade has two regi- 
ments. Every division is composed of dragoons, uhlans, 
hussars, and Cossacks. The cavalry is now provided 
with machine-guns, and its training and equipment have 
frequently been admired at manoeuvres by foreign mili- 
tary attaches, while London has also occasionally seen 
the first prize for horsemanship carried off by its 
officers at Olympia. For those in crack regiments pay 
enormous prices for their chargers, many of which are 
English or Irish thoroughbreds by the most fashionable 
sires. 

The indigenous Siberian tribes are exempt from 
military service; but there are, of course, many alien 

1 A regiment is called, in Russian, a " polk,*^ from which the word 
" polka," signifying a dance, was probably derived. 



THE ARMY 93 

races fighting for the Tsar, such as Circassians, Turko- 
mans, Kirghiz and others, while the Jews have done so 
well in this war that they are now (for the first time in 
history) allowed to rank as non-commissioned officers. 
The " moujik," however, as I have said, is the backbone 
of the nation, and he is also that of the army ; which 
latter is almost entirely composed of the peasantry, 
who, even in time of peace, lead a life of privation 
and endurance which admirably fits them for the 
severer hardships and perils of a campaign. Besides, 
as I have already remarked, the moujik has little or 
no fear of death, which, after all, is a soldier's chief 
qualification. 

" Ivan " (as the Russian linesman is nicknamed) is 
as brave as a lion, and generally sturdy and muscular, 
but he lacks the jovial, contented look of our English 
" Tommy," and is indeed of a rather surly demeanour, 
only enjoying a joke if it be of a very broad and obvious 
kind. Also, according to our ideas, he is anything but 
well fed, his diet chiefly consisting of " schtchi," fish and 
rye bread, yet he seems to thrive upon this meagre fare, 
which would certainly not satisfy the average English- 
man. And "Ivan " must now sadly miss the " vodka" 
which formerly enlivened his rather colourless existence ; 
although, on the other hand, he is passionately fond of 
music, and is seen at his best when, at the end of a day's 
march, the men gather around the camp-fire for the 
national and inspiriting songs and dances which they love 
so well. Many line regiments are preceded by a trained 
choir as well as a band, and the former is generally 
preferable, for Russian military music is, with few excep- 
tions, brassy and inferior. 

Yet " Ivan " takes even his pleasures sadly; not that 
they ever amount to much, for his daily pay is even 
less than that of the French poilu (who, in some cases, 
receives only a sou a day), and no games or recreations 
of any kind are provided for him when in barracks. In 
peace-time, however, he can in his leisure hours earn a 
few extra kopeks by working for private employers, 
and this is his sole privilege, with which, being ever stolid 
and uncomplaining, he appears to be quite content. 
But for all his rough and uncouth exterior, " Ivan " has a 



94 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

generous nature and warm heart, and is therefore seldom 
cruel or vindictive towards a fallen foe. An example 
of his unfailing good-nature even on the battlefield was 
only recently shown when, upon an order being given 
that all prisoners found with explosive bullets in their 
possession were to be shot forthwith, a Russian officer 
detected some of his men in the act of trying to conceal 
some of the latter which had been secretly handed to 
them by their Austrian captives. 

There is a Russian expression which, when used in 
the army, has a totally different meaning to when it 
is spoken by civilians. This is the word "Tak" (the 
military significance of which is somewhat akin to that 
of our slang word "Righto"), the Russian soldier's 
invariable reply when instructed to carry out an order, 
whether it be to storm a citadel or bring some shaving 
water. And either command will be cheerfully obeyed ; 
for whatever he is told to do, the Russian soldier will do 
it, even though it involve his own destruction, as is 
shown by the following incident which was related to me 
by an artillery colonel, who had himself seen it during the 
Russo-Turkish War. On a certain occasion, near Plevna, 
it became necessary, at a critical moment, to move some 
field-pieces across a deep swamp, where no wood or 
faggots were obtainable to make a passage for the guns. 
Volunteers were therefore called for from an infantry 
regiment to serve this purpose, and a number of men at 
once left the ranks and lay face downwards in the mud, 
while several batteries galloped over their prostrate 
bodies, the guns and horses crushing and trampling 
most of them to death ! And I could cite several other 
instances of heroic self-sacrifice, in the Russian ranks, 
which are certainly unsurpassed in the military annals of 
any other nation. 

During the reign of Peter the Great the Russian 
Army was modelled upon German lines, a system which 
continued until the accession of Alexander II., who was 
such an ardent admirer of Germany that the latter 
provided him with military instructors, some of whom 
(notably Adlerberg and Todleben) became naturalized 
Russians, whose descendants are now fighting against 
their former compatriots. In former days, therefore, 



THE ARMY 95 

both drill and uniforms emanated from Berlin, and it 
was only after the Emperor's tragic death in 1878 that 
his successor introduced the plain but serviceable dress 
of to-day, which consists, in winter, of a loose drab over- 
coat (of the same material as that worn by Siberian 
prisoners) secured by a leathern belt, and a circular 
fur cap, bearing the regimental badge or number. In 
summer a flat, peakless cap and loose white linen blouse 
replace the thick winter tunic; stout high-boots, into 
which baggy breeches are stuffed, being worn through- 
out the year. This may not sound attractive, yet not- 
withstanding its sombre, drab appearance, and the rather 
slouching gait of the men, a Russian line regiment on the 
march has a tough-looking, workman-like aspect which 
amply atones for outward pomp and display. Some of 
the cavalry, of course, have brilliant tunics and facings, 
the olive-green and magenta of that crack regiment 
the Grodno Hussars being almost startling, while the 
" Chevaliers Gardes " wear an even more dazzling and 
expensive uniform than that of the Kaiser's Imperial 
Guard. 

The infantry is armed with a five-cartridge magazine 
rifle, with a range of 3000 yards, and although at first 
they were very short of quick-firing guns, this defect has, 
as in England, been remedied.^ Russia also uses a 
field-gun closely resembling the famous " 75," which is 
made at the Creuzot works in France, and is being 
supplied with a very similar, but even more modern, 
weapon by the Japanese. But the Russian prefers cold 
steel to the most costly and accurate rifle ever invented ; 
and that he knows how to use the former was proved at 
Plevna, when that almost impregnable fortress was taken 
chiefly at the point of the bayonet. 

I have many personal friends in the Russian Army, 
ranging from a smart and dapper captain in the " Che- 
valiers-Gardes " to a rough and rugged Cossack colonel 
smothered in decorations, who before this war was 
stationed in the wilds of Central Asia, though Heaven 
only knows where he is now ! And, having occasionally 
been entertained as a regimental guest, I have had 

1 Great Britain uses the " Lee -Enfield,*'- Germany the " Mauser " 
rifle. 



96 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

opportunities of closely studying Russian military life, 
both in the mess and barrack-room. My first experience 
of this kind was some years before, my latest five years 
after, the Japanese campaign, which terminated in such a 
disastrous Russian defeat, although the latter proved a 
blessing in disguise ; for had it not occurred, the nation 
would probably have remained in ignorance of its urgent 
military needs, and certain reforms which have now 
evolved a more powerful and efficient army than the 
nation has ever possessed might never have taken 
place. For the Japanese War was lost, not from any 
lack of bravery or enterprise on the part of the troops, 
but from the sheer incapacity and indifference of most 
of their generals, some of whom were carousing with 
French cocottes in Mukden, while their presence was 
urgently needed at the front. Moreover, thousands 
of Russian soldiers in the Japanese campaign practi- 
cally died of starvation owing to a deficient transport 
and commissariat, and the latter even now is far 
from being perfect, although the medical branches 
of the service have been thoroughly reformed and 
reorganized.^ 

The Russian officer is as brave as he is hospitable 
(which says a great deal), but it is only of recent years 
that his attention has been turned to serious professional 
studies which were formerly almost entirely neglected, 
even in such important branches as the artillery and 
engineers. But such a change has now taken place not 
only in the discharge of his professional duties, but also 
in his mode of life, that I was amazed, on the occasion 
of my last visit to a regiment which I had known in the 
old " happy-go-lucky " days, to behold such a complete 
transformation in such a short space of time. When I 
first went to Russia, thirty years ago, the higher branches 
of military science were studied only by a select and 
zealous few, who were generally laughed at by ribald 
companions for their pains. Drill occupied a few hours 
in the morning, after which the afternoon and evening 
were generally devoted to women, cards and champagne, 

^ So inefficient was the Russian Commissariat during the Crimean 
War that of 60,000 men who marched in winter from Moscow to Sebas- 
topol, only 12,000 reached their destination. 



THE ARMY 97 

not only by gay and giddy subalterns but also their 
grey-haired elders holding high commands, and I often 
wondered how even the latter could habitually indulge in 
such reckless extravagance, seeing that a general then 
received about the equivalent of a British major's pay.^ 
In the old days, an adjournment was invariably made after 
dinner to a theatre, music-hall, or some less reputable 
resort of a garrison town ; but during my last visit I was 
left to my own devices on the first evening after mess, my 
host and his brother officers having excused themselves 
on the plea of having to attend a lecture on tactics ! 
And this occurred nearly every night, while most of the 
day was taken up with severe outdoor work, for the 
Russian officer of every rank is now as keen to acquire 
scientific and technical knowledge as he formerly was 
to indulge in frivolity and dissipation. 

And this salutary condition of affairs is certainly 
partly due to the fact that champagne is now as rarely 
seen on a mess-table as " vodka " in the canteen. For 
even twenty years ago a man who could not freely 
dispose of alcohol was regarded as rather a milksop, 
and I retain a lively recollection of a certain dinner 

with the gallant Hussars in Warsaw when, being 

the only guest, I had to drink the health, separately, of 
every officer present. And when I had been compelled 
to partake of every sort of wine, followed by coffee and 
liqueurs, a huge silver bowl was borne in, into which all 
the fruit left at dessert was first placed, and the dregs 
of every decanter and wine-glass on the table emptied, 
together with a quart of cognac, which was then set on 
fire ! Having rashly imbibed some of this mixture, I was 
suddenly tilted from my chair by several young officers, 
who then formed a ring, laid me on their clasped hands, 
and tossed me violently up and down on this substitute 
for a blanket ! This, I was afterwards informed, was 
considered a great honour, but it was nevertheless one 
with which I could willingly have dispensed as a sequel 
to such a " wet " evening ! But those nights of riotous 
revelry are now relegated to the past, for those who once 
indulged in them (and especially the new type of Russian 

1 The scale of officers'- pay in the Russian Army has now been 
increased. 



98 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

officer) are quite as deeply impressed with the vital 
importance of their mission in life as their comrades in 
the armies of Great Britain or France. 

The friendly, not to say familiar, relations which here 
exist between officers and men could never exist else- 
where in Europe. Even a general coming on parade 
greets his men as " brothers," and a captain acknow- 
ledges the salute of a private of his company with studied 
politeness, and as though the latter were one of his own 
rank and class. And yet a man while talking to an 
officer, even for a lengthened period, must not for an 
instant lower his hand, this being probably a survival 
of the discipline which was once as severe here as it is 
to-day in Germany. There is even a legend that a former 
Tsar once sent off an entire regiment of dragoons to 
Siberia, without permitting them to return to barracks, 
simply because they failed to perform a certain manoeuvre 
to his liking at a Petrograd review. And although at 
the present day officers and men off duty frequently 
address each other as " Brother " and " Little Father " 
respectively, discipline is never really relaxed ; for even 
in time of peace, a soldier who, even when intoxicated, 
insults his superior officer, is at once tried by court-martial 
and very often shot. Such a breach of respect is, how- 
ever, of very rare occurrence ; for the mere fact that men 
are treated as their friends, even by field officers, pre- 
cludes the former from taking a liberty, and one who 
did so would certainly be severely handled by his 
comrades. 

Whenever I express my sincere admiration for the 
Russian Army to its English detractors they almost in- 
variably reply : " Yes, but how easily it was beaten in 
the Japanese War ! " without apparently taking into 
consideration three important reasons for its defeat on 
that occasion, viz. : (1) the incapacity of its commanders ; 

(2) the enormous distance (6000 miles) from its base ; and 

(3) that the war was a very unpopular one, for half the 
army did not know what they were fighting for, or even 
against, some of the wilder Siberian troops picturing the 
foe as a fiery dragon of stupendous proportions and 
power ! Russia was also, at that time, seriously ham- 
pered by internal dissension which compelled the military 



THE ARMY 99 

authorities to retain a number of troops in Europe, whose 
services were urgently required in the Far East. She is 
now, however, fighting a traditional enemy whom even 
little children instinctively revile and detest, while 
every man in the country is well aware that not only 
his freedom, but his very existence, is at stake. Above 
all, the strategical conditions are now as much in Russia's 
favour as they were, in Manchuria, the reverse, while 
her troops acquired as much useful military knowledge 
and experience during the Japanese campaign as England 
after the South African War. 

But anyway, Russia has now happily become our 
staunch friend and ally, wherefore it is satisfactory to 
reflect that, except on two occasions, she has never met 
with what can be called a really decisive defeat. On the 
other hand, she successfully resisted Napoleon for years, 
and eventually drove him out of the country with heavy 
loss ; while in 1878 she completely routed the Turks, and 
would, if not restrained by the Powers, have occupied, 
if not annexed, Constantinople. Nor must one forget her 
brilliant military successes, against formidable odds, in 
Central Asia and the Caucasus, the once hostile races 
of which have now become peaceful and prosperous 
Russian subjects. To use a slang term, Russia, in the end, 
always " comes out on top," although at the outset of 
hostilities, and probably from characteristic indolence 
engendered by semi- Oriental methods, she generally gets 
the worst of it. The most crushing reverse, however, 
never seriously affects her, for the Russians are fatalists 
who, however gloomy the outlook, never give way to 
despair, being firmly convinced that, whatever happens 
in this world, in the shape of good or evil, is the will of 
God, and must therefore be submissively endured. And 
this, in warfare, is a wonderful consoler at times of 
depression and defeat. 

Every one in England is naturally anxious to have done 
with the war, and I therefore constantly hear my com- 
patriots express their impatience at the apparent slowness 
of our ally's operations on the Eastern front ; yet this 
fact should never cause disappointment or anxiety, for 
(as I well know !) no Russian was ever yet in a hurry, 
and time, to him, is therefore of no importance so long 



100 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

as, in the end, he achieves his object. ^ It must also be 
remembered that Russia cannot yet employ more than 
about a quarter of her forces simply because she cannot 
equip and arm the remainder. No less than 18,000,000 
men are available, and 12,000,000 of these are at 
present idle, and must remain so until the munition 
workers of other countries enable them to take their 
place in the ranks. Russia's offensive is therefore at 
present only in its initial stage, for if the other Allies 
have now all they need in the shape of heavy armament, 
the former is still very inadequately supplied. A Rus- 
sian friend of the writer not inaptly described his country 
under present conditions, as an ocean, the incoming 
tide of which breaks upon an ironbound coast only 
to recede, and presently return with redoubled volume 
and strength. So, he declared, will his countrymen 
come on, again and again, until the Hun defences 
are worn away, and that accursed race is submerged 
for ever. 

For the Russian, like the British soldier, never 
knows when he is beaten. " Ivan " will go on fighting as 
bravely as a lion and stubbornly as a mule indefinitely, 
if need be; and that is why, with such inexhaustible 
reserves, he must eventually wear down the enemy, 
who is nothing like his equal in point of numbers, and 
is, moreover, confronted by three grim forces which in 
the end repelled even Napoleon : distance, hunger, and 
cold. We in England can only faintly realize Russia's 
latent but prodigious power, or conceive the overwhelm- 
ing masses of troops which she can continue to throw into 
the field, if necessary, for the next twenty years. And 
who can blame our lack of knowledge when the Russian 
Government itself occasionally underrates its military 
resources, as is shown by the fact that, a few months 
ago, the authorities decided to call up a territorial class 
which, it was calculated, would yield something like 

^ Their proverb, " What is slowly done, is well done," is exemplified 
by a peasant who, when making a horse-yoke out of a birch bough, 
was slowly bending the latter to its required shape by the aid of steam, 
when a bear standing by, thinking to accomplish the job more rapidly, 
snatched the wood away and crushed it with such force that it smashed 
into splinters. 



THE ARMY 101 

400,000 men, and the call was promptly answered by 
nearly 1,000,000 ! 

It may not be generally known that the present re- 
forms in the Russian Army are chiefly due to the personal 
influence and efforts of the Ex-Tsar, who threw himself 
heart and soul into a work for which His Imperial 
Majesty's military knowledge and experience have 
rendered him eminently capable. The substitution, 
after the Japanese War, of young and energetic men for 
aged and incapable leaders, was almost entirely brought 
about by the Emperor, but only after powerful oppo- 
sition on the part of those who naturally wished to 
retain their lucrative posts. The Kaiser was regarded as 
a man of unusual strength of character when he ruthlessly 
deposed Prince Bismarck, but the Tsar was recently 
confronted with a much more intricate problem before he 
was able to finally expel the band of sycophants (many of 
German origin) who had surrounded him ever since his 
accession to the throne, and who were chiefly to blame 
for the corrupt condition of the country and its army. 
Nicholas II. was also mainly responsible for an increase 
in the pay of officers, which now not only enables 
men of slender means, and perhaps superior military 
qualities, to obtain a commission, but also lessens the 
temptation to pilfer from regimental funds; a custom 
once so prevalent, that a colonel of a regiment fre- 
quently amassed huge sums of money by tampering 
with the forage for his horses or clothing for his men. 
It was also by the Tsar's personal intervention that 
the Russian flying corps, which has recently done 
such useful work, was entirely remodelled on French 
lines. 

There can be little doubt that, with the exception of 
the more advanced Socialists, all classes of society in 
Russia are now solidly united against a universally 
dreaded and detested foe. Every Russian, of whatever 
creed or class, regards this war as a purely national 
struggle, and enough has perhaps been said to convince 
the most confirmed British croaker that " Russia's case 
is anything but hopeless," and that she has not yet 
been compelled to resort to agricultural implements 
as weapons of warfare ! Moreover, a moment's calm 



CHAPTER XI 

CIVILIZED SIBERIA 

PART I 

HISTORY — THE " TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY " — ON THE 
CHINESE FRONTIER 

Few people in England ever realize the stupendous 
size of the Russian Empire, proudly styled by its people 
" Polovina Mir," or " Half the World," which is, of 
course, an exaggeration, although Russian Asia alone 
covers an area of nearly 6,000,000 square miles. 
Mr. George Kennan, the American traveller, perhaps 
afforded the most graphic illustration of its enormous 
extent when he wrote as follows — 

"If it were possible to move entire countries from 
one part of the globe to another, you could take the whole 
of the United States of America, from Maine to Cali- 
fornia, and from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and set it down in the middle of Siberia without touching 
anywhere the boundaries of the latter territory. You 
could then take Alaska and all the states of Europe, 
and fit them into the remaining margin like pieces of a 
dissected map, and after having thus accommodated 
all of the United States, including Alaska, and all of 
Europe (except Russia), you would still have more 
than 300,000 square miles of Siberian territory to 
spare^ — in other words, you would still leave unoccupied 
in Siberia an area half as large again as the Empire of 
Germany ! " 

And all this is exclusive of European Russia, which 
has an additional area of over 200,000 square miles ! 

Thirty years ago, before the completion of the " Trans- 
Siberian Railway," Siberia was chiefly regarded in 

103 



104 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

England as a vast penal colony, to which political exiles 
were deported under atrociously cruel conditions. In 
those days, only a few capitalists and explorers ever 
gave a thought to the commercial or agricultural possi- 
bilities of a country which was practically as unknown 
to the majority of Englishmen as Central Tibet, and 
as many of the former may still remain in ignorance of 
the facts which led to the annexation of this vast and 
valuable territory, I will here briefly relate them. 

Western Siberia was conquered in 1581, by a few 
hundred men under one Yermak, a poor illiterate 
Cossack, who with a handful of desperadoes undertook 
the daring military operations destined to achieve such 
marvellous results. Previously to this Siberia had re- 
mained a terra incognita even in Russia until the middle 
of the sixteenth century, when the Tsar Ivan Vassili- 
vitch sent an expedition across the Urals, defeating a 
few Tartars, who, however, quickly drove the invaders 
back into Europe. Disheartened by this reverse the 
Tsar next attempted to open up trade with Persia, but 
the imperial caravans were continually pillaged on the 
road by lawless Cossacks, led by Yermak, who, however, 
was eventually defeated, and compelled to fly from his 
home on the Don, and take refuge with his followers on 
the banks of the Volga. Here Yermak first learnt of 
the existence of Siberia — which was described to him as 
a country of fabulous wealth, under the rule of Kout- 
choum-Khan, whose dominions then only extended 
for a few hundred miles east of the Urals. 

So it came to pass that Yermak, allured by visions 
of fame and riches, set out in the summer of 1579 for 
the unknown El Dorado, with an armed but undis- 
ciplined rabble of 5000 men, whose progress was so 
slow, owing to lack of funds and transport, that over 
a year elapsed before they crossed the Asiatic frontier. 
Sickness, hunger and privation had by this time reduced 
them to under 1500 men, whom Koutchoum-Khan 
unexpectedly engaged with a formidable Tartar force 
just over the border. The battle which ensued was a 
desperate one, but although confronted by enormous 
odds, the gallant little band of Russians completely 
routed their foes. Yermak then pushed on and occupied 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 105 

Sibir, where he was installed as " Prince of Siberia " by 
his few remaining companions. 

Here the invaders enjoyed for a time a well-earned 
rest, until Tartar intrigues caused further trouble, which 
urgently necessitated outside aid. A trusty emissary 
was therefore dispatched to Moscow to explain matters, 
and announce that Siberia had been conquered solely 
in the name of the Tsar. Nevertheless, the envoy 
approached the Holy City with serious misgivings, for 
there was not only a reward offered for the capture of 
his chief, dead or alive, but also for all his followers. 
Ivan the Terrible, however, on hearing the joyful and 
amazing news, granted every outlaw a free pardon, 
dispatched a large body of troops to their assistance, 
and simultaneously conferred wealth and the highest 
honours upon their adventurous chief, whose name is 
now almost as revered throughout the nation as that 
of Peter the Great. And amongst the princely gifts 
with which the messenger returned, to his leader at Sibir 
was the suit of golden armour which, only a few months 
later, unhappily caused the death of its brave recipient. 

The latter, now emboldened by the presence of imperial 
troops, recommenced operations by laying siege to a 
small fortress, which was expected to offer little resist- 
ance, on the Irtysh river. The Tartars, however, had 
in the meantime so successfully reformed their scattered 
forces, that Yermak unexpectedly encountered a hornets' 
nest, which compelled him to fall back in disorder, 
closely pursued by the enemy, to his base at Sibir. 
And during the retreat thousands of Russians were slain, 
until one night Yermak and a little band of men sought 
refuge on a small islet of the Irtysh, intending to resume 
their flight at dawn. But when the fugitives, exhausted 
by a long and harassing day, had fallen asleep, a force of 
Tartars silently landed and fell upon them so suddenly 
that only one man escaped, under cover of the darkness, 
to Sibir, with news of the disaster in which his chief 
had perished. The latter had fought fiercely to the last, 
cutting his way through serried masses of the enemy, 
before plunging into the river, where he endeavoured to 
board one of the boats which the latter had occupied. 
But the craft was moored some distance from the shore. 



106 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

and Yermak was dragged under water to his death by 
the weight of the massive golden armour which had been 
presented to him by the Tsar. 

The next expedition dispatched to Siberia was of 
such formidable proportions that it met with hardly 
any opposition, and speedily re-established Muscovite 
rule throughout the province of Sibir. The work of 
annexation was then extended, and fortresses erected 
at Tobolsk, Tara, and other strategic points from which 
the stream of conquest flowed eastward apace. Tomsk 
was founded in 1604 and became a base of further 
extension, while the now important town of Yeniseisk 
was founded in 1619, and that of Krasnoyarsk eight 
years later. Armed parties then marched on to Lake 
Baikal, and thence to the valley of the Lena, erecting 
stockades and subduing natives either by peaceful or 
forceful persuasion. Yakutsk was founded in 1632, 
and seven years later the Sea of Okhotsk was reached, 
although the Bouriattes and other indigenous tribes 
were not finally overcome until about the middle of 
the seventeenth century. Thus, in the short space of 
sixty years, and mainly through the courage and enter- 
prise of one man, was added to the Russian Empire a 
territory of which centuries alone can truly reveal the 
prodigious wealth. 

Siberia is, in England, generally associated with 
intense cold and eternal snow, and no one ever seems to 
picture it in summer garb, when it becomes one of the 
most temperate and fertile countries in the world. I 
have been there at every season of the year, and can 
therefore testify that if the cold has occasionally been 
beyond endurance, I have also on occasion suffered 
severely from the other extreme, a fact easily explained 
in this land of stupendous area, and therefore innumer- 
able varieties of temperature. Thus, in the month of 
June, I have perspired in a thin flannel suit in the town 
of Tomsk, and, a few weeks later, have shivered in furs 
with 70° below zero on the River Lena ! And I preferred 
the cold, for in Siberia (as in European Russia) few 
precautions are taken to guard against heat. 

So much for the historical and physical character- 
istics of Siberia, following which a word as to the Trans- 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 107 

Siberian Railway may not be out of place. A deal of 
nonsense has been written about the latter in order to 
attract English travellers bound to Japan, but these 
should beware of alluring and overdrawn advertise- 
ments. Personally I should always choose the sea-route 
in preference to that across Asia in cars not nearly so 
well-appointed as those of the " Wagons Lits " Company 
in Europe. I have travelled to the Far East both by 
land and by liner a dozen times, and give me the latter 
in preference to a train of exasperating slowness, where 
the outlook from your carriage window from Moscow 
to Manchuria is ever the same : in summer a dreary 
sunbaked waste, with intervals of pine forest ; in winter 
a vista of perpetual snow — ^both being so monotonous 
that after a fortnight or so they have generally reduced 
me to a condition of apathetic despair. Climatically, 
the journey is agreeable enough, especially in winter, 
when Siberia is at its best, and when on most days there 
is a blue sky and dazzling sunshine which, at midday, 
often renders your heated compartment too warm to 
be pleasant, although outside the thermometer may 
register 20" below zero. But the air is dry and, even 
with a breeze (which will presently be torturing Lon- 
doners in the shape of a biting east wind), sometimes 
actually enjoyable. On the other hand, the food is 
(or was) atrocious, also the attendance; and although 
the beds are comfortable enough, the only bath in the 
train I last travelled in was generally used as a receptacle 
for storing ice, vegetables, and butcher's meat, and was 
therefore in a filthy condition when put to its proper 
use. Fortunately the station " restaurants " are as 
perfect as they are in Russia (and they are the best 
in the world) ; and the fares are extremely moderate, a 
first-class ticket from Moscow to Irkutsk (a ten days' 
journey) costing only £15. 

It was in 1857 that an American first conceived this 
great railway, and although his project was abandoned, 
the Russian Government took careful note of the 
original surveys, and also of those which have since 
been made with a similar object by English and French 
engineers. The Trans-Siberian was undoubtedly a 
colossal achievement, and it is the longest railway in the 



108 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

world, but it cannot be compared, in ingenuity of con- 
struction, with the Canadian Pacific Hne, on which I 
have also frequently travelled. Yet I have occasionally 
read that the Russian line entailed greater difficulties, 
which is obviously absurd, for this track is mostly as 
level as a billiard-table, only the region around Lake 
Baikal and eastward of it being mountainous. Never- 
theless no expense has been spared to make the Trans- 
Siberian (which is of uniform gauge with the European 
lines) as perfect as circumstances will permit. The 
bridges, formerly of wood, are now made of iron, the one 
over the Irtysh being nearly four miles long ; a remark- 
able piece of engineering which, as it has to withstand 
enormous ice pressure, entailed an enormous expenditure. 
The commercial possibilities of the Trans-Siberian 
cannot, as yet, be fully estimated, for its influence on 
commercial energy must, in years to come, affect the 
remotest part of Russian Asia. Even now, towns of 
considerable size have sprung up in all directions, 
although the country is, as yet, only sparsely peopled, 
its entire population being 1,000,000 less than that of 
London. It has now, however, largely increased, and 
will probably continue to do so so long as the goldfields 
attract prospectors, and foreign emigrants gradually 
realize that fortune awaits them, not only underground, 
but on the boundless and fertile prairie. I should explain 
that as regards agriculture Siberia is composed of three 
great zones — the upper or northern one, being the 
" Tundra," which extends across the country for about 
5000 miles, and is useless for purposes of cultivation, 
for in summer it is like a soft wet sponge, into which 
you sink knee-deep, and which is only capable of 
producing mosquitoes. Immediately south of the 
" Tundra " comes the " Taiga," a forest belt of enor- 
mous extent, which contains valuable lumber of all kinds, 
the exploiting of which will be greatly increased by the 
facilities afforded by railway transport. The third and 
most important zone is the " Steppe " region, one of 
unfailing fertility which is yearly being more extensively 
brought under cultivation and where the soil is so rich 
that, as Siberians say, " When tickled with the hoe, it 
laughs with a harvest." This region must, in the near 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 109 

future, attract thousands of, not only Russian, but 
foreign capitalists, for the purpose of farming, horse 
and cattle breeding, and the export of grain. 

Accidents are rare on the Trans-Siberian, but even 
the express trains travel at a snail's pace, and an enor- 
mous staff is employed to keep the track in order. The 
old post-road was (as I can testify) rather dangerous 
after dark, for it was infested with runaway convicts; 
but the railway is perfectly safe in this respect, and has 
never yet been the scene of a " hold-up." It is only 
beyond Irkutsk that the laying of the line presented 
anything like serious difficulties. Lake Baikal was the 
chief stumbling-block, and for a long time passengers 
had to cross it in a small steamer, preceded in winter 
by an ice-breaker, but the line now skirts the southern 
shores of the lake. From this point the track gradually 
ascends until it reaches the Yablonoi mountains, where it 
attains its highest altitude (3412 feet above sea-level), 
and passes through a region of impressive beauty and 
grandeur. There is from here a rapid descent to the 
plains, which continue until the Pacific Ocean is reached 
at Vladivostok, where the first stone of the eastern 
terminus was laid by the deposed Tsar (then Tsarevitch) 
on May 12, 1891. 

Let me now describe my impressions of a country of 
which I had shared, up till my first visit, the vague and 
generally erroneous notions of my countrymen. My 
initial experience of a Siberian town was on a July day 
at Kiakhta, on the Chinese frontier, which I reached from 
the great wall of China, after a five weeks' journey across 
the Gobi Desert in a camel-cart. ^ This was before the 
existence of the railway, and the voyage which followed 
across Siberia to Europe was, therefore, accomplished 
with horses in a " tarantass," ^ a ramshackle vehicle on 
wheels which is used for posting in summer-time. 

^ See Pekin to Calais by Land, by the author. 

^ " A tarantass resembles a large cradle on four wheels. It is 
seatless, about seven feet long by five feet broad, and the luggage 
is packed in the well of the vehicle, a mattress being placed over the 
former on which the occupant reclines. There is a hood, from which 
an apron is fastened to the driver's seat to exclude wind and rain, 
but the carriage is springless, and suspended on two long slender 
poles" {Pekin to Calais by Land, by the author). 



110 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

The little town of Kiakhta is worthy of description, 
not only on account of its proximity to the Mongolian 
frontier, but also because its manners and customs 
formed a striking contrast to other Siberian cities which 
I afterwards visited, and which have greatly improved, 
in every respect, since the construction of the great iron 
road. And even this remote place (through which all 
the overland tea from China passes) was a revelation 
to one who had anticipated finding, at most, a few squalid 
huts with possibly a military post, for even this would 
have been welcome after weeks in the wilds with only 
Tartars as companions. Judge, therefore, of my sur- 
prise when I rode into a town of attractive appearance, 
with public and private buildings, well-kept streets and 
squares, good shops, and a public garden with a band- 
stand ! There were two or three churches ; one a 
handsome building (erected by the local tea-merchants), 
the golden altar of which had cost £30,000, while its 
chime of bells had been dragged by thousands of horses 
for 2000 miles from Europe, Near this church was a 
new and imposing brick building which I eventually 
discovered was a college attended by over 100 students. 

Having no letters of introduction, I went to the so- 
called inn to find that a foul, dark room, with a rickety 
table and two wooden chairs, was the sole accommoda- 
tion provided, and that guests must find their own bed 
and refreshment. But there were then no inns worthy 
of the name in even the largest Siberian cities (except 
Irkutsk), and travellers had to put up at the post- 
houses, which generally contained a " samovar," eggs 
and black bread, although even these were unobtain- 
able in the malodorous " Hotel Glembodski." Towards 
evening, therefore, of the day of my arrival I was 
literally starving in a land of plenty, for, being a Sunday, 
the shops were shut, and I could not purchase provisions. 

So I strolled, friendless and well-nigh famished, to 
the public garden, where the band of a Cossack regiment 
was performing to a gaily-dressed assemblage, mainly 
composed of wealthy tea-merchants with their wives 
and daughters, the latter of whom sat listening to the 
music and flirting with officers, just as though this 
had been some French or German watering-place. One 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 111 

could scarcely realize that the loneliest desert in the 
world was only a couple of miles distant, or that this 
was the Chinese frontier, but for some pigtailed figures 
in delicate silken robes who mingled freely with that 
little concourse of Europeans. 

The Siberian merchant is the soul of hospitality, as 
I happily discovered when, returning supperless to my 
unclean abode, I found its Polish landlord conversing 
with a frock-coated individual who addressed me in 
French, and who, on hearing of my troubles, invited 
me to accompany him to his home, an offer which, as 
it probably meant food, I gladly accepted. For I was 
now feeling actually faint from hunger, and was therefore 
much relieved to observe, on passing my host's dining- 
room, that supper was laid for a number of people. 

My friend in need was a tea-merchant, who lived in 
a charming house, and whose wife's refinement and good 
taste were indicated by her drawing-room, which con- 
tained valuable pictures from Europe, and porcelain 
and other works of art from China and Japan. Here 
the guests assembled, and I watched their tardy arrival 
with pardonable anxiety, seeing that every minute was 
now increasing the discomfort caused by prolonged 
abstention from food. The supper-table which had 
presented such an inviting aspect was therefore upper- 
most in my thoughts, and my heart sank when, towards 
eleven o'clock, my host took me to inspect a consignment 
of tea-chests which were stacked in the yard, and which 
he proceeded, with maddening deliberation, to " taste," 
by driving a hollow piece of metal, like a cheese scoop, 
into each case, and withdrawing a small sample ! How- 
ever, we found, on returning to the drawing-room, that 
all the guests had assembled, consisting of the local 
" ispravnik " and his wife — a stout and stern- visaged 
lady, a Cossack officer then quartered in Kiakhta, three 
young gentlemen and two young ladies of no special 
interest, a poor relation from nowhere in particular, 
and two professors, one of music and the other of 
chemistry, from the college. Only my host and his 
pretty wife spoke English, and the Cossack imperfect 
French, which, as I was then unacquainted with Russian, 
rather restricted my conversational efforts. 



112 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

No one has a greater admiration for Russian life and 
character than myself, but while noting the many 
excellent qualities of our allies, it would only be mis- 
leading to ignore their few defects. And one of these is 
an utter disregard of punctuality with regard to meals — 
a failing which, I should add, is chiefly confined to 
Siberia. On the evening in question nine o'clock was 
the stipulated hour for supper, but it was nearly mid- 
night before it was announced, and even then it was 
only with reluctance that the guests left a game of 
cards which, throughout the evening, had engrossed 
their attention. And even when at length the dining- 
room was reached we lingered for quite half an hour 
around a side-table set out with salted herrings, salmon, 
cheese and caviare, flanked by bottles of cognac, 
"vodka," and numerous liqueurs. Here every one 
gravely drank my health, turning his glass up, if I 
did not drain mine, to show that his was empty; 
with the result that, by the time supper was served, 
I had been compelled to absorb about a dozen glasses 
of "vodka," a fiery liquid which cannot be drunk with 
impunity. 

Supper consisted of a dish of mutton cutlets and two 
diminutive chickens, a slender allowance for such a 
numerous company, but with the exception of bread 
and sweet biscuits, there was no other form of solid 
nourishment. There was no lack, on the other hand, 
of liquid refreshment in the shape of sweet " Sauterne " 
and sugary port wine (the latter bearing a well-known 
English label), but I searched in vain for claret, beer, 
or even water to slake the raging thirst induced by 
highly-spiced and salted " zakouski." Towards 3 a.m. 
the ladies retired, leaving the men to gather round 
the table and finish the evening (or rather morning) in 
the good old-fashioned way. In vain I protested that 
I never touched port, and that alcohol in any shape 
upset me; my companions ignored all excuses and in- 
sisted on my drinking with them in turn, much in the 
same way that the immortal Mr. Jorrocks and his hunts- 
man, James Pigg, drank to the health of every separate 
hound in the pack when they had exhausted every other 
toast. For here, when the Tsar, Queen of England, 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 113 

Emperor of China and other reigning potentates had been 
duly honoured, these Kiakhta revellers fell back, as a 
last resource, on their " noble selves." 

It must have been about 5 a.m. (for it was broad 
daylight) when I was the innocent cause of a discussion 
which nearly resulted in a tragedy. The conversation 
having turned upon duelling, I related the story of the 
three-cornered duel in Midshipman Easy, which afforded 
the Cossack so much amusement that he retailed the 
anecdote, in Russian, for the benefit of the college 
professors; each of whom took opposite views of the 
question, one maintaining that this mode of conflict was 
permissible, while the other declared that it was cowardly 
and unfair. No three men, argued the musician, should 
be allowed to fire at each other, for one of them must 
be at a disadvantage; and the argument at length 
became so heated that my host was compelled to inter- 
fere. The Cossack then joined in, expressing his con- 
viction that the matter could only be settled by personal 
combat, in order not only to satisfy the honour of the 
disputants, but also to test their respective theories. 
Nothing, he urged, would settle the matter but practical 
demonstration, and he would therefore be charmed to 
fetch his duelling-pistols and make a third ! But for- 
tunately this extreme course was not resorted to, for 
the captain's suggestion seemed to suddenly pacify the 
combatants, who thereupon shook hands, and ended by 
exchanging vows of eternal friendship. 

It was past six o'clock when we separated, English 
bottled stout being previously handed round, a beverage 
which then cost about a guinea a bottle in Kiakhta, and 
was drunk out of wine-glasses ! Then everybody kissed 
every one else (a trying ordeal to which, in Siberia, I 
have since frequently had to submit), and I retired to 
rest — on the drawing-room sofa, for, although the house 
was luxuriously furnished, apparently only the ladies 
were provided with beds. My host had disappeared 
when the Cossack, (who had consumed more liquor than 
any one else), buckled on his sword and strolled off to 
morning parade, still brooding over his rejected proposal, 
but now as sober as a judge. The professors also de- 
parted, arm in arm, in an opposite direction, down the 
I 



114 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

now sunlit street. So ended my first " evening party " 
in Siberia ! 

All this occurred some years ago, and I have merely 
mentioned the incident in order to show that social life 
has, in Siberia, greatly changed for the better, since 
the railway has brought Europe into closer touch with 
these outposts of civilization. Such an evening as I 
have described would, of course, be impossible under 
the recent restrictions, nor would such a debauch now 
be tolerated in any well-ordered Siberian household. 



PART II 

IRKUTSK — TOMS — KTOBOLSK 

Irkutsk, which lies west of Kiakhta, is 4000 miles 
from Petrograd — a journey which formerly took nearly 
three months, although shortly before the war I did 
it, by rail, in ten days ! It is called the " Paris of 
Siberia," iDut I must confess I could never see any 
resemblance between this unfinished, straggling city 
and the gay French capital, although the former is 
picturesquely situated in rugged Alpine scenery between 
two rivers, the mighty Angara, and the placid little 
Irkut. The population numbers 60,000 and is naturally 
rather mixed, for in the market-place you may see the 
Celestial elbowing fur-clad Yakutes, and Central Asia 
shaking hands with Japan. The natives of the district 
are Bourialtes, who are Buddhists and speak a mixture of 
Mongolian and Chinese, although they are more in- 
telligent than any other Siberian race, many holding 
appointments as Government officials. 

When I first visited Irkutsk there was one clean and 
comfortable inn, which has now disappeared, to give place 
to a number of so-called hotels, all equally bad and 
expensive, which the railway has produced. Of these 
the " Metropole " is perhaps the best; but although the 
name is suggestive of a gold-laced porter and marble 
halls, it is a cheap, jerry-built building with an atrocious 
cuisine and accommodation, although its charges are 
equal to those of the Carlton. On the last occasion 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 115 

my room certainly contained an iron bedstead (an un- 
known luxury in the old days), but its sheets and 
pillows bore the imprint of many previous guests, and 
there was no bathroom in the house, the only washing 
appliance in my apartment being a brass tap fixed into 
the wall, which dribbled cold water into a dirty brass 
basin. The establishment, in short, was as dirty and 
comfortless as a fifth-rate London lodging-house, 
although other private residences around were almost 
palatial, being mostly owned by illiterate nouveaux riches 
who had amassed huge fortunes in the Amur gold- 
fields. There is a wide social difference between the 
middle-class Siberian and his prototype in European 
Russia, which is explained by the fact that Siberian 
society largely consists of the descendants of convicts. 
Wealth apparently makes no difference to the garb of 
either men or women, most of whom, even though they 
be in affluent circumstances, present an untidy, even 
shabby appearance. It is only in winter that costly or 
cheap furs indicate a man's station in life, blue-fox or 
sable denoting the merchant, while astrakhan or sheep- 
skin are worn by his clerk. Both, however, generally 
look as if they slept in their clothes ; which, by the way, 
is not improbable. For I was once the guest of a Siberian 
Vanderbilt who lived like a prince, his house and its 
appointments having cost millions of roubles. The 
owner possessed priceless pictures and artistic treasures, 
horses and carriages, and conservatories of rare orchids 
and exotics, all brought from Europe. Even his bed- 
room was furnished a la Louis XF. by a famous Parisian 
upholsterer, and yet he slept every night, fully dressed, 
on three chairs ! 

Most of the buildings in the " Bolshaya," or main 
thoroughfare of Irkutsk, are of brick, and it is lit at 
night with electricity, although only flickering oil 
lamps illumine the back streets, through which, after 
dark, you must grope your way. The " Opera " (a 
new and handsome house) stands near this main street, 
which also contains two or three theatres, and some so- 
called music-halls, which blaze with light from dusk till 
dawn, and where suppers are served at little wooden 
tables, while painted harridans cackle suggestive songs 



116 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

on a small stage, from which they occasionally descend 
to mingle with the crowd. Siberian millionaires spend 
their money freely, but most of those I met preferred 
the dubious amusements of their native city to the 
more refined attractions of a European capital. Many, 
therefore, took their pleasure sadly, but expensively, in 
these places, amid surroundings suggestive of a low-class 
American " dive" ; and this was to some extent excusable, 
for the " Opera " was generally closed, and performances 
at the other theatres were of a very inferior description. 
But Irkutsk now has its skating-rink, and picture- 
theatres, and, for all I know, superior operatic and 
dramatic artists, and the evenings may be less dreary 
than those I passed there six or seven years ago, when, 
although I had hospitable friends, dinner was invariably 
followed by gambling for stakes far beyond my means. 
I generally returned to my hotel in a " droshki " at 
night, when it was well to be armed, for highway rob- 
beries and even murders were of frequent occurrence, 
and were generally traced to time-expired convicts in 
the lower quarters of the town. On the occasion of my 
last visit I was only here a week, during which period a 
woman was shot one evening outside the " Metropole " 
and a man stabbed to death, in broad daylight, on the 
busy " Bolshaya." 

In summer-time Irkutsk society migrates for coolness 
and fresh air to Lake Baikal, about twenty miles away, 
and I retain pleasant recollections of a visit, in July, to 
the pine-clad shores of this the largest lake in Asia, 
which in places is said to be unfathomable. But its 
frozen waters present no attractions in winter, and 
this is moreover the pleasantest season of the year in 
Irkutsk, which in summer-time is unbearably hot and 
dusty. Yet the place is fairly healthy, except in the 
fall of the year, when lung disease and rheumatism are 
prevalent owing to cold and dense fogs. The spring is 
equally objectionable, for the melting and swollen Angara 
then causes inundations which are sometimes very 
destructive to life and property. 

Tomsk is, next to Irkutsk, the largest city in 
Siberia; but although the former is 2000 miles nearer 
Europe, it is only reached by a branch line from the 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 117 

Trans-Siberian, and is therefore, commercially speaking, 
a less important place. In former days, however, 
Tomsk was the only Siberian terminus in direct steam 
communication with Petrograd by river and rail; but 
this, although still maintained, has now been con- 
siderably reduced by the cheaper and quicker mode 
of transit direct by land to Moscow. Yet the river trip 
was, to my mind, preferable to the railway journey ; and 
the ten days to Tiumen, and pleasant break across the 
Urals, succeeded by a four days' trip down the Volga to 
Nijni Novgorod, was as full of interest as the railway route 
is now dull and monotonous. The large paddle steamers 
which still ply in the summer to Tomsk from Tiumen 
and back are roomy and comfortable, and there is no 
pleasanter trip, especially for sportsmen, for the country 
teems with game of all kinds, and a shooting licence is 
easily procured. Navigation opens about the end of 
April and closes in October, and fares are even cheaper 
on board these boats than on the Trans-Siberian Railway. 
Tomsk consists of an upper and lower town ; the 
former, which is situated on a steep, granite cliff, com- 
prising buildings which, at a distance, present a rather 
imposing appearance. In the lower, or business, quarter 
of the town, however, brick and wooden dwellings are 
confusedly jumbled together, and the broad, straggling 
streets are unpaved and, in summer, ankle deep in dust, 
or flooded by heavy rains which submerge the raised 
plank side-walks. When the roadway has thus been 
under water I have watched the arrival of tea-caravans, 
and seen carts which had come without a breakdown all 
the way from China overturned and wrecked, within 
sight of the steamer, in the treacherous pitfalls which 
here abound. In dry weather the dust here is so dense 
that on a still, summer's day it hangs over the town 
like a funeral pall ; which is not inappropriate, for this 
is a most depressing place, less, perhaps, by reason of 
its lack of life and activity than the sombre aspect of 
the streets, where a few red-brick houses and green- 
domed churches form the only patches of colour. All 
around it is a vast prairie across which a rough track, 
formed by incessant traffic, leads to the steamer's land- 
ing-place some miles away ; but it is only from the upper 



118 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

town that you can trace the course of the great River 
Obi, sluggishly rolling northwards, through interminable 
plains, with here and there a patch of dark pine forest 
to break their monotony. 

The inn at Tomsk was worse than my Irkutsk " hotel," 
for I discovered, the day after my arrival, that the room 
assigned to me had lately been occupied by a smallpox 
patient. But when I indignantly complained of this 
outrage, the landlord merely shrugged his shoulders, 
and murmured that his guest had " only had a mild 
attack ! " thereby recalling the Irish peasant girl, who 
when reproved for deviation from the path of virtue 
pleaded that the result of her indiscretion was " only 
a little one ! " 

I visited this town chiefly in order to inspect its 
prisons, and being furnished with Government cre- 
dentials, enjoyed the hospitality not only of officials, 
but also of the mercantile community, which was 
certainly more amusing. For Tomsk, although a place 
of depressing exterior, can be socially very gay, especially 
in winter, when mining and agriculture being at a 
standstill, all classes in Siberia rest and take their 
pleasure, and there is plenty going on in the way of 
amusements. My evenings were usually passed at the 
theatre or club, where there was gambling every night, 
and for the highest stakes I ever saw, even in Russia. 
" Shtoss," a kind of simplified " baccara," seemed very 
popular, although it was a mere gamble, in which a 
card is named and an ordinary pack dealt, one to the 
right hand for the players, and left for the bank, which, 
of course, has the usual advantage. I have seen thou- 
sands of roubles staked nightly on this inane and sense- 
less game, and during the winter race-meeting (for which 
horses are sometimes brought from Europe to run in 
deep snow !) even larger stakes are won and lost. 

Although good looks are rare amongst Russian 
peasant women, this does not apply to those of the 
Siberian upper class, where pretty faces are more 
numerous in proportion to the population than in 
European Russia. Yet the life once led by the Siberian 
lady was anything but conducive to health or beauty, 
for she rarely took any form of exercise (in Siberia nobody 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 119 

ever walks or rides for pleasure), and in winter passed 
most of her time indoors, smoking cigarettes and reading 
French novels in a heated and unwholesome atmo- 
sphere. But these conditions have now entirely- 
changed, and both sexes now employ their time more 
sensibly and profitably than even a decade ago. 
Frivolous feminine pleasures have been discarded in 
favour of intellectual pursuits, and greater interest is 
shown in the mental and physical welfare of the young. 
This is probably due to increased facilities of education, 
for while wealthy Siberians formerly sent their children 
to Europe to complete their studies, the latter may now 
graduate in almost any subject without leaving home. 
A voyage to Petrograd was, before the construction of 
a railway, such an undertaking, that parents often 
preferred to keep their daughters, or even sons, at home, 
under the care of incompetent instructors, rather than 
expose them unattended to the risk of an arduous and 
complicated journey. But Tomsk now boasts of a 
University for which a grant of 1,000,000 roubles was 
made by the State, and a similar sum by local sub- 
scriptions, where students may take up any branch of 
science or art. There are also high schools for girls, and 
as all this now applies more or less to every city in 
Siberia, the mental needs of the rising generation are 
well provided for. And it would be unjust, after 
enumerating his failings, to pass over the good qualities 
of the Siberian millionaire, who though often illiterate 
and ill-bred, is ever ready to put his hand in his pocket 
to further a good cause. At Tomsk, for instance, there 
are no less than a score of charitable institutions main- 
tained solely by public subscriptions, and a beggar is 
therefore rarely seen in the streets. It should also not 
be forgotten that many of these men have received 
practically no education, and that the charity which 
they habitually practise covers a multitude of sins. 

I have already referred to the innumerable feasts in 
the Russian calendar, and in addition to these every one 
celebrates a " name day " as well as the date of his 
birth. The former commences at the early hour of 
11 a.m., when friends arrive with gifts and con- 
gratulations, returning to their respective homes at 



120 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

2 p.m., but only to reassemble for dinner two hours 
later. The aforesaid meal, to which I was bidden, 
lasted about five hours, and consisted of nine courses, 
which commenced with pancakes fried in caviare, and 
ended with ices and pastry, the " name day " pie, 
consisting of various kinds of fish, eggs, rice and cabbage 
forming the piece de resistame. Alcoholic beverages 
entered largely into the menu, and the prohibition of 
these must now greatly diminish the wild revelry which 
used to attend these entertainments. I have, for 
instance, vivid recollections of a certain bowl of " punch " 
which was composed of a bottle of champagne, half a 
bottle of brandy, four glasses of cura9oa and a similar 
amount of vodka, and which, before consumption, was 
set on fire ! Even General Hindenburg's favourite 
beverage, known as " East Prussian Cup," ^ can hardly 
be more potent than this Siberian compound, which I 
trust the reader may never be rash enough to try, even 
as an experiment ! 

In summer " aquatic picnics " are all the rage here. 
A river steamer is chartered by a number of towns- 
people, who, on this occasion only, ignore all social 
distinctions, the opulent merchant hobnobbing with any 
impecunious street loafer who may have contrived to 
save enough money to join the party. The former, 
however, engages a private cabin, where he entertains 
friends, while the latter can only enjoy himself on deck, 
not being admitted to the well-appointed saloon, where 
the upper ten lunch and dine. A string band accom- 
panies the boat, which, after steaming up stream for 
several hours (with no special object) returns at sunset 
to her place of departure. At dusk a blaze of electric 
light is the signal for dancing which continues until 
midnight, when home is reached after (as the English 
reader may imagine) a somewhat dull and monotonous 
day. For during the excursion I attended there was 
little to do but eat, drink, smoke, or revert at intervals 
to what is known here as " conversation-siberienne," 
which is only another name for the cracking and con- 

^ According to the Daily Mail, " East Prussian Cup '* contaius a 
pint of stout, a bottle of champagne, a pint of brandy and a pint of 
burgundy. 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 121 

sumption of hazel nuts, when there is nothing to talk 
about ! During the afternoon there was a violent 
thunderstorm, and my host's daughter, with whom I 
was conversing at the time, seemed so preoccupied after 
a deafening crash of thunder, that I endeavoured to 
reassure her. " Oh ! I am not in the least alarmed," 
she replied after a pause : "I was merely recalling the 
names of six bald-headed acquaintances," this being, 
the -young lady declared, an infallible protection against 
lightning ! 

Tobolsk was probably selected as a fortress by its 
Cossack founder ^ by reason of its commanding site 
which, from a steep and rugged cliff, overlooks the grey 
waters of the Irtysh and a vast expanse of country. 
The town is picturesque and also interesting, for its 
citadel, comprising the Governor's palace and cathedral, 
was erected about the time of the annexation. There 
is a fine view from here of the crescent-shaped city, 
which mostly consists of low wooden buildings, some of 
great age, with here and there a glittering church dome. 
The streets are paved with planks, and driving at night 
is rather risky, for your " droshki " may be suddenly 
engulfed in some deep hole where the wood has rotted 
away, only to be repaired when it has widened into an 
impassable chasm. Tobolsk is, unlike other Siberian 
cities, very unhealthy, owing to the proximity of stagnant 
marshes which are productive of fever and malaria, 
and the winter here is even more severe than at Irkutsk. 
Summer is generally sunless and rainy, and exiles have 
told me that they would rather remain ten years at the 
mines than half the time here, even though they enjoy 
comparative liberty, and it is so much nearer Europe. 
The town was, before the war, infested with German 
manufacturers of leather, soap, and tallow, and the 
aggressive Hun was also worming his way into the boat- 
building industry (in which only Russians are here 
employed) when he was happily compelled to beat a 
hasty retreat or be interned. 

If Lucerne and Berne are respectively famed for their 
" Lion " and " Bears," every stranger here is aggres- 

^ A stone obelisk has been erected to him at Tobolsk bearing the 
inscription : " To Y6rniak — Conqueror of Siberia, 1581-1584." 



122 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

sively reminded that Tobolsk also possesses an object 
of historical interest. For on arrival at the landing-stage 
itinerant vendors will pursue him with walking-sticks, 
cigarette-cases, sleeve-links, and every imaginable and 
useless article fashioned in silver, ivory, or wood to repre- 
sent the celebrated " Bell of Ouglitch," which, for tolling 
the signal for an insurrection in that town was banished 
to Tobolsk in the sixteenth century by the Tsar Boris 
Godouroff. It was the custom, in those days, to flog 
Siberian exiles and remove their nostrils with red-hot 
pincers, but this was in the case of the bell obviously 
impracticable. The Tsar was, however, facetiously 
inclined, and therefore decreed that the metal offender 
should first be publicly flogged and then (not being 
possessed of a nasal organ) have its ears filed off. And 
this sentence was duly carried out, the " Ouglitch Bell," 
which for many years reposed in a church, having found 
a last resting-place in the local museum. 

An interesting discovery was recently made here in 
the shape of vast subterranean passages which, running 
in all directions, were unearthed during some building 
excavations. News of the occurrence was immediately 
wired to Petrograd, but, to every one's surprise, an order 
was returned to close the place up as quickly and secretly 
as possible. The matter therefore remained a mystery, 
but as the galleries were driven only under the lower 
town, they were probably constructed by some ancient 
Tsar to be used in case of a revolt as mines. 

Ekaterinburg ^ is more suggestive of some fashionable 
French watering-place, with its handsome stone buildings 
and boulevards, asphalte streets and excellent hotels, 
than a remote mining town. The Urals, where it is 
situated, more resemble downs than mountains, and a 
few miles from the town, the stone pillar may still be 
seen which marks the border-line between Europe and 
Asia, and which in bygone days was the scene of many 
a sad parting, for all prisoners then passed it on their 
way to exile. Ekaterinburg is rendered the more 
attractive by a clear and rapid river which, bisecting 
the town, forms in its centre a lake studded with fertile 

1 Founded in 1793 by Peter the Great, and named after Catherine 
of Russia, 



CIVILIZED SIBERIA 123 

islets where, on a summer's evening, pleasure boats 
afloat and crowded cafes ashore, impart an air of almost 
Parisian life and gaiety. And everything in the place 
conveys an impression of wealth and luxury, for this 
district is famed for its valuable deposits of gold, silver 
and platinum. Many English firms established here for 
their exploitation are also largely interested in iron, 
which is here so cheap and plentiful that it is made into 
walking-sticks, and precious stones are also found 
in the vicinity, amongst them the emerald, amethyst, 
topaz and pretty alexandrite, which, an emerald by day, 
becomes a ruby in the lamplight. The traveller is 
therefore constantly pestered by tiresome purveyors 
of gems, who are as wily and extortionate as their col- 
leagues in Colombo, wherefore here, as in Ceylon, it is 
well to beware of worthless imitations. 

So much for civilized Siberia. I shall endeavour in 
the next chapter to give the reader some idea of life 
in the remoter regions of a land of such enormous extent, 
that a political exile of my acquaintance once set out 
from Europe to travel incessantly for over a year, before 
finally reaching his destination in the Tsar's Asiatic 
Dominions. 



CHAPTER XII 

DARKER SIBERIA ^YAKUTSK AND THE LENA RIVER 

The above heading is in no way connected with my 
experiences while inspecting the prisons of that great 
lone land which, in England, had ever been associated 
with the banishment of State offenders. As a matter 
of fact, the latter have always formed only a small 
percentage of the great army of criminal convicts of 
both sexes who are sent to Siberia, not only to expiate 
their sins, but to colonize. I shall now, however, ignore 
the penal question, and merely describe the strange 
towns and stranger people whom I met, not only on the 
uttermost confines of civilization, but also far beyond 
them, in the frozen North. Should the reader desire 
a detailed account of Russian prison life, it may be found 
in previous works dealing solely with my investigation 
of the Exile system which, at the termination of three 
years, convinced me that a long term of penal servitude 
in Siberia would be infinitely preferable to even a brief 
period of confinement in any English gaol. 

Before we penetrate into the remoter parts of Siberia, 
let the reader take a map of the world on " Mercator's 
projection," and note how small and insignificant other 
countries (even our Indian Empire) appear beside this 
stupendous stretch of territory, more than six times the 
size of Australia ! Find the city of Irkutsk, and a long 
way north-east of it Yakutsk, which is not, as you might 
imagine in these lonely latitudes, a trappers' settlement, 
but a fair-sized town. Verkhoyansk, further north, is 
our next objective, whence we shall set out on a two 
months' journey nearly due east, to Nijni-Kolymsk, 
on the Arctic Ocean, which may indeed be described as 
" the end of the end " of the world, and where, so far 
as this book is concerned, our journey will end. 

124 



DARKER SIBERIA 125 

Let us say the reader wishes to proceed from Irkutsk 
to Yakutsk, beyond which no one who can possibly avoid 
it ever travels. A stranger will naturally have the 
vaguest notion of how to reach the place, and will only 
ascertain with difficulty, even at Irkutsk, that in summer 
he can travel there by small steamers plying on the Lena, 
or in winter-time by sleigh, on the frozen surface of the 
river, which then becomes a post-road, impenetrable 
forests and endless swamps rendering it impossible to 
travel on land. The summer journey takes about three 
weeks, but shifting sand-bars and other obstacles often 
cause delays, which must be patiently endured in con- 
junction with atrocious food and accommodation, and 
myriads of mosquitoes. Those compelled to go to 
Yakutsk, therefore generally choose the winter route 
which is perhaps the lesser of two evils ; but in any 
case, the summer journey is one of incessant boredom 
and discomfort, while in winter there are daily priva- 
tions and occasional hardships which can only be borne 
by a man accustomed to " rough it," in the severest 
sense of the word. 

My " troika " ^ was changed at every post-house (of 
which there are one hundred and twenty-three between 
Irkutsk and Yakutsk), and my conveyance was a con- 
trivance known as a Yakute sleigh and used nowhere else 
in the world. It consisted of a sack of coarse matting 
about four feet in depth suspended from a frame of 
rough -wooded poles, in front of which was a seat for the 
driver. Into this bag my luggage was first lowered, 
then a mattress, pillows and furs, and finally I lay down 
myself at full length on my belongings, with a thick 
felt apron as a protection in stormy weather or intense 
cold. I could have dispensed with the latter, for during 
sleep it rested on the face, causing frostbite, while in 
bad weather the thick heavy canopy cast me into outer 
darkness 1 

The whole journey may be described as one of mad- 
dening monotony with fairly frequent intervals of severe 
physical suffering. For, from first to last, the post- 
houses were squalid hovels where only black bread, 
salt fish, and occasionally a dubious egg were obtainable. 
^ A team of three horses harnessed abreast. 



126 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

The provisions I carried had to be thawed out at every 
halt, and a case of Crimean claret which I had taken to 
enliven the first stages of the journey was found, when 
opened, to contain only red ice and broken glass ! I 
carried, however, milk cut into frozen cubes in a net, 
and this, mingled with tea, was my only beverage. 

Progress is so slow that after a few days the heart 
sinks at the appalling total of mileage to be covered, for 
advance is retarded by frequent accidents caused by 
logs frozen into the river ice, and other causes. A 
double row of pine branches indicates the track, but 
these at night are invisible, and there is then great 
danger from ice holes, caused by the hot springs which 
abound in the Lena. Blizzards were also frequent, 
when we would flounder about for hours lost in the 
deep drifts, and the wild, unbroken horses would some- 
times bolt while one lay in a sleigh as helpless as a 
tinned sardine, and momentarily expecting a smash or 
plunge into the cold dark waters. Yet, on still clear 
nights, it was not unpleasant to lie back and watch 
an inky sky powdered with stars — the " Great Bear " 
now almost overhead, and the little " Pleiades " twink- 
ling like diamonds against black velvet. And on sunlit 
days the heavens were equally beautiful, being unflecked 
by the tiniest cloud, and gradually fading from dark 
sapphire overhead to the tenderest turquoise on the 
horizon. But day after day and week after week the 
landscape was unutterably dreary and depressing, an 
endless vista of pine-clad cliffs between which the frozen 
Lena lay as broad as an arm of the sea,^ and motionless 
as a corpse. The so-called villages were merely a few 
huts surrounding a post-house, and also a larger building 
surrounded by a palisade, where political prisoners are 
housed during this interminable journey, which, by the 
way, ordinary criminals never experience. After a week 
or so, I travelled like a man in a dream, wherein the 
jangle of yoke-bells and scroop of the runners seemed 
permanently hammered into the brain. 

^ The Lena has a length of 3000 miles, its tributaries being the 
Vitim, Aldan and Olekina rivers, 1400, 1300 and 800 miles long re- 
spectively. The Vitim rims through a rich gold- mining district, and 
the finest sables in the world are found in its vicinity. 




V ..^^h' 




DARKER SIBERIA 127 

There are three small towns on the Lena between 
Irkutsk and Yakutsk (which I chiefly associate with the 
only three square meals I was able to obtain), and one of 
these, Kirensk, about half-way, was a pretty little place 
which afforded a brief but delicious interval of rest. 
And being a fine, bright day, it was really enjoyable to 
walk through a main street of neatly-built houses, two 
or three warehouses, and a store for the sale of provi- 
sions, clothing, and other necessaries of life. A couple 
of river steamers in course of construction, but now 
imbedded in the ice, accounted for the prosperous 
appearance of Kirensk, which actually boasted of an inn, 
where I fared sumptuously off decent food amid clean 
surroundings. Moreover, a fish I tasted here, called 
the " Nelma," which is found only in the Lena, and eaten 
in frozen slices, would certainly have found favour in a 
London restaurant. 

The river here makes a detour of fifty or sixty miles, 
and in order to avoid this the post-road is laid for a 
short distance over the land, and through a forest so 
dense that my sleigh could scarcely get through it. Yet 
it was a relief to drive, if only for a few hours, through 
pine woods where the single telegraph wire which con- 
nects Yakutsk with civilization was our only guide. 
And here for the first time on this journey we encountered 
a wolf, which on first sight I took to be a mangy, half- 
starved dog, and which turned tail and fled at our 
approach. I mention this fact as, although I have 
travelled thousands of miles in the wildest parts of 
Siberia, I have never met these brutes in anything like 
dangerous numbers, and therefore imagine that reports 
of their boldness and ferocity may be somewhat exag- 
gerated. I found in the inn at Kirensk (and nearly 
every post-house) cheap coloured prints which even 
here had been freely distributed by the German 
Government in order to excite animosity and ridicule 
against England. All were connected with the Boer 
War, in which (needless to say) the British troops were 
invariably depicted in the act of ignominious flight, one 
work of art representing three British generals upon 
their knees imploring mercy of Mr. Kruger ! 

One interesting event of that otherwise uneventful 



128 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

journey was my meeting with the famous naturalist, 
Dr. Herz, who was returning to Petrograd with his 
newly-discovered mammoth, the discovery of which, 
at the time, aroused much interest in the scientific 
world. The prehistoric monster was being conveyed in 
sections, packed in twenty sleighs, to Europe, and had 
already thus been brought for over 2000 miles from 
the Arctic Ocean. The task of conveying it even as 
far as this had been almost a superhuman one, and 
Dr. Herz informed me that this was the most perfect 
specimen of the kind ever discovered. The animal had 
been found frozen into a massive block of ice, and had 
presumably fallen from a cliff near by, for its forelegs 
were broken, and there were other signs of injury. The 
beast measured more than twenty feet in height, and it 
was even possible to accurately calculate its period by 
undigested weeds found in the stomach. I am glad to 
be able to add that all difficulties of transit were finally 
overcome, and that this priceless treasure was success- 
fully set up by scientists, and has now been relegated to 
the " Imperial Academy of Science " in Petrograd. 

The town of Yakutsk (which I reached in twenty- 
seven days from Irkutsk) was founded by Cossacks early 
in the seventeenth century, and the old wooden stockade 
which they then erected was so strongly constructed, 
that it is still in a good state of preservation. It is 
said that the Yakutes granted these first Russian colo- 
nists as much land for the erection of a city as the 
latter could surround with 200 reindeer-skins, but the 
wily Cossacks cut the latter into such thin long strips, 
that they encircled many miles of ground. The town 
therefore covers a very large area, and looks at a distance 
rather imposing, although this impression is quickly 
dispelled on closer acquaintance, for the sombre wooden 
buildings, many rotting with age, and wide but lonely 
streets, present a lifeless and depressing aspect. Even 
the Governor's palace is a mean -looking, one -storied 
edifice, and there are no other public buildings with the 
exception of two or three handsome, golden-domed 
churches, which look rather out of place amid such 
squalid surroundings. 

There was no inn here of any description, so I was 



DARKER SIBERIA 129 

entertained by the Chief of PoHce, under whose guidance 
I was enabled to study more closely the manners and 
customs of the inhabitants. And I was surprised to 
find that even isolated Yakutsk had its social side, and 
that although in the streets only gold-laced officials, 
burly Russian traders, and fur-clad natives were met 
with, there was also an upper class which contrived 
almost to enjoy life under especially adverse conditions. 
The chief member of this " Society " was of course the 
Governor and his staff, whose official exile was shared 
by their wives and daughters. Then came the officials 
according to rank, the mercantile community, and lastly 
the political exiles, who to my surprise seemed to enjoy 
as much freedom as any one else. A lunch therefore, 
which was given in my honour by the Governor, as- 
sembled at least a score of guests, including several ladies, 
some of whom were young, attractive and fashionably 
dressed, although these were recent arrivals, and had 
not acquired the " mildewed " appearance (I can think 
of no other term) of the women who had resided here 
for years. The menu was surprisingly elaborate, 
and although I had suffered from starvation on the 
road, the frequency of meals here was almost as distress- 
ing as the pangs of hunger. My host, for instance, was 
an orderly, business-like man, yet I never got to bed until 
four o'clock in the morning, simply because supper, 
the principal meal of the day, was only served at mid- 
night. Breakfast, consisting of black bread, smoked 
fish, and cheese, was served at 9 a.m., and followed at 
midday by a heavier meal accompanied by beer and 
liqueurs. At 3 p.m. there was a dinner of three courses, 
and at 8 p.m. tea, accompanied by cakes and sweets, 
while in addition to these repasts there was a sideboard 
laid in the dining-room for a snack at any hour of the 
day or night ! Every one rose very late and, as in the 
Far East, retired for a " siesta " in the afternoon, an 
arrangement rendered essential by the brief snatches 
of repose obtained at normal hours. 

Yakutsk, like all small towns, was a hotbed of scandal, 
and the women especially seemed to pass most of their 
time discussing other people's affairs, for none of them 
appeared to have any rational or useful occupation to 

K 



130 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

mitigate an existence of hopeless monotony. I had 
heard in Irkutsk of the immorality prevalent here, and 
a stay of only ten days sufficed to convince me that the 
report was not entirely groundless. And this demoraliza- 
tion was scarcely surprising, seeing that although in 
summer-time women could obtain fresh air and exercise, 
in spring and winter they were kept indoors for days, 
and sometimes weeks, at a time by floods or intense cold. 
A prominent official told me that, but for the fear of 
publicity, things would have been far worse; and this 
condition of affairs is probably of long standing, for when 
my friend the late Admiral Melville came here thirty 
years ago (after searching the Lena Delta for his unfor- 
tunate shipmates of the Jeannette), the Governor in- 
formed him, on the occasion of a New Year's Eve 
reception, that, " on that night, as on no other, every 
man had his own wife instead of some one else's at his 
side ! " 1 

Nearly every night throughout the winter there is a 
social gathering of some sort, but there was a sameness 
about these entertainments which rendered them un- 
utterably sad and depressing. There were only three 
pianos in the place, but the " gramophone " was ubi- 
quitous and would grind away tune after tune, while 
the ladies sat around it in a silent circle, and the men 
played cards, or paced up and down the room, chatting 
and smoking cigarettes.^ This is a singularly irritating 
habit peculiar to Siberia, where, when conversation 
flags, your host or companion will continue to walk 
to and fro for hours, murmuring the word " Da "^ 
at intervals, while if you hazard a remark on any subject 
he will generally contradict you, more with the object 
of starting a discussion than because his opinion really 
differs from your own. The most important social 

1 In the Lena Delta, by G. W. Melville. 

^ The Russian Admiral, Von Wrangell, also thus described a visit 
to Yakutsk in 1820 : " The inhabitants are not in an advanced state 
of intellectual cultivation. They pass much of their leisure in noisy 
assemblages where eatiag and drinking play a principal part. After 
dianer (which is a very substantial meal) the gentlemen pass the 
afternoon with cards and punch, and the ladies gather roimd the 
tea-table." 

3 "Yes." 



DARKER SIBERIA 131 

event was a monthly amateur dramatic performance at 
the club, which commenced at 6 p.m. and wound up with 
supper towards the small hours, although there had 
previously been plenty to eat and drink between the 
acts ! 

Life is more bearable here for men than women, for 
the former are occupied with official or commercial 
duties, and, if so inclined, can obtain excellent sport 
with rod or gun within a few miles of the town. The 
Verkhoyansk mountains can be reached in under a 
week in winter, and here there are elk, wild sheep and 
other big game ; but, as I have already remarked, this 
mode of sport is not popular in Russia, and most of the 
men I met preferred to pass their leisure hours indoors 
with the fair sex, probably engaged in less healthful 
and innocent pursuits ! 

The feeling of gloom from which a stranger invariably 
suffers on arrival in Yakutsk is probably due to the fact 
that he has only reached the latter after struggling 
through a hell of monotony, hunger, and filth which 
will have to be undergone on the return journey — for 
there is no other way back to Europe, and the heart 
sinks at the thought. It was of course infinitely worse 
before the installation of the telegraph, which now at 
least keeps one in touch with the distant world of civiliza- 
tion. Yakutsk only possessed one so-called newspaper, 
a dry official monthly record, but telegrams received 
by the Governor were passed on to subscribers who paid 
for the privilege. The wire ends here and local news 
which filters slowly in from the Far North could generally 
be dispensed with, for it is generally associated with 
some death or disaster such as the tragic fate of the 
Jeannette expedition on the Lena Delta, or more 
recently the mysterious disappearance of Baron Toll, 
the Russian explorer, and his companions in the Liakov 
Islands. 

Yakutsk has been described as the coldest place in 
winter and the hottest in summer in the world, but this 
is incorrect, for a daily record which I examined regis- 
tered 78° Fahrenheit as the highest, and 69° below zero 
as the lowest for the past fifteen years, and I myself 
experienced a lower temperature further North. Never- 



132 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

theless the soil is permanently frozen to a depth of 
700 feet, and is only thawed, even during the hottest 
summer, for thirty or forty inches. Winter com- 
mences in September, and by the first week in Octo- 
ber the country is icebound until May, when the Lena 
breaks up, flooding the country for hundreds of miles, 
and rendering Yakutsk an island, cut off by miles of 
water from any other land. The short summer is 
rendered very unpleasant by dust, dense fogs, and of 
course clouds of mosquitoes. 

The Yakutsk province contains about 250,000 natives, 
and the town a considerable number, but they only 
associate on business with the Russians, so I saw 
little of them. Those who resided in the towns were 
not attractive, the men having sallow complexions, 
flattened nostrils, and straight coarse black hair, while 
the women were ungainly creatures, with faces thickly 
plastered with paint. But the Yakutes are proud of 
their lineage, and affect to despise the Russians, whom 
they say they only tolerate because of their money. 
There are many wealthy Yakutes, for they are such 
shrewd business men that Russians call them " the Jews 
of Siberia " ; which is scarcely correct, for most of them 
are recklessly extravagant in the pursuit of pleasure, 
often gambling for large stakes, and squandering their 
money on women and riotous living. The men are also 
usually hard drinkers, although they rarely touch spirits, 
champagne being their favourite beverage. Their cos- 
tume is a blouse of cloth or fur, according to the season, 
baggy breeches, and high deerskin boots; that of the 
women, loose flowing draperies adorned in summer with 
bright silks and satins, and in winter costly sables and a 
head-dress of some valuable fur. Their language has 
one interesting peculiarity, for it so closely resembles 
Turkish, that a merchant from Constantinople could 
easily make himself understood in the market-place of 
this Siberian town. Numerous words expressing the 
same meaning are exactly similar, and the numerals 
up to ten identical. 

There were only a couple of good stores here, where 
the most miscellaneous articles in the shape of furniture, 
wearing apparel, cheap jewellery, groceries and iron- 



DARKER SIBERIA 133 

mongery were sold. I had hoped to procure valuable 
furs at a greatly reduced price, but found them almost 
as dear as in Petrograd, for the good old days are past 
when peltry was so cheap and European goods so 
expensive that an iron cauldron fetched as many sable 
skins as it would hold ! In summer, however, a large 
" Aquatic Fair " is held on the Lena, on board numerous 
barges which drift down from its upper waters with the 
stream, and which as soon as navigation permits furnish 
not only the necessaries, but luxuries of life. These 
boats are towed back by steamers in the early fall, 
exporting furs, fish and ivory to the value of some 
millions of roubles. In the open season small steamers 
also run down the Lena to the Arctic Ocean, from which 
large quantities of salt fish, furs and walrus-tusks are 
yearly exported to Europe. 

There is little doubt, in face of these natural re- 
sources, that in the course of a few years Irkutsk will be 
linked by rail from Yakutsk, for a line could be laid with 
com-paratively little difficulty. Thirty years ago there 
was no steam communication of any kind, and it is now 
so inadequate to the commercial needs of this vast 
province, that it is practically certain that after the war 
special attention will be directed to the development of 
the Yakutsk district which will render imperative the 
construction of a railway to Irkutsk. For although so 
far north, even agriculture here is making great strides, 
as was proved by a visit which I made to a Skopt settle- 
ment near Yakutsk, where farming was successfully 
carried on, and which I shall describe in an ensuing 
chapter descriptive of " Curious Creeds." There is little 
doubt, therefore, that Yakutsk only needs capital, energy 
and enterprise to render it an important centre of com- 
merce and civilization. Gold abounds in all the up- 
lands of the Lena, many of them yielding (under present 
primitive modes of working) £500,000 sterling yearly. 
Platinum, lead, iron and coal are also known to exist in 
large quantities,, and the trade of the place is now nothing 
to what it could be made in a short space of time, in 
capable hands. I passed through Yakutsk during a 
journey which I undertook by land to America, in order 
to ascertain the possibility of constructing a railway from 



134 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

France to New York, in which the Bering Straits were 
to be negotiated by means of a tunnel. My expedition 
was the first to cover the entire distance, and while 
the conclusion which I formed at its termination in- 
clined me to doubt whether the whole line would ever 
be laid, I was at the same time impressed with the 
enormous advantages that would be gained by the pro- 
longation of the present Trans-Siberian Railway to the 
remoter regions of Siberia. For Yakutsk once reached, 
important branches could radiate in all directions from 
it as a mining and commercial centre ; and I have heard 
Yakutsk merchants discuss the feasibility of a line to 
Gijiga (on the sea of Okhotzk), which would probably 
reap a rich harvest, for this system would open 
up Kamchatka with its valuable minerals, furs and 
lumber, and also Nelkan, near Ayan, where gold has 
been discovered in such large quantities that a well-known 
Siberian millionaire has commenced a narrow-gauge 
railway of 200 miles to connect the new goldfields 
with the sea. One may therefore safely predict that 
when wealth and enterprise have opened up the Yakutsk 
province, the banks of the Lena will swarm with large 
and prosperous towns, instead of being as they now are, 
a howling waste interspersed with a few small, poverty- 
stricken settlements. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FROZEN ASIA 

Let us assume, before visiting Arctic Siberia, that 
London, and not Yakutsk, is the point of departure, as 
the reader will then more readily appreciate distances 
which, if merely given in round numbers, he would 
probably underestimate. " So many hundreds of miles " 
from one place to another in these frozen wastes convey 
very little to the dweller in civilization, even though the 
actual journey be one of interminable length, solitude 
and suffering. When, however, it is more graphically 
described as being " as far as that from London to Berlin," 
Constantinople, or some other well-known place, a clearer 
idea may be formed of the magnitude of mileage which, 
in the Far North, is often covered under almost impossible 
conditions. For instance, my journey from Yakutsk 
to the Bering Straits was about the same distance as 
from London to the Persian Gulf, a very ordinary journey 
in a genial climate by rail or steamer, but a very different 
proposition when the temperature averages 30° below 
zero, and the only mode of locomotion is an open sled 
drawn by dogs or reindeer ! 

It was with the latter that I journeyed from Yakutsk 
to Verkhoyansk (about as far as from London to Mos- 
cow), and I should explain that north of Yakutsk a few 
political exiles and the Cossacks who conduct them are 
the onl}^ travellers. Even natives are very seldom seen, 
and the Governor of Yakutsk, who had resided there for 
over twenty years, had never summoned the courage to 
embark even upon this comparatively short trip. A 
reindeer sled is the easiest primitive vehicle in the world 
over smooth snow, but is so light that, when the latter 
is rough, it rolls and pitches like a channel steamer. It 
is drawn by four deer, two abreast, without reins, the 

135 



136 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

team being driven by a thong attached to the off-leader, 
the traces being secured by a loop round the neck and 
inside the outer leg of each deer. The driver carries 
a long pole, not to urge on his team, but to sound deep 
snow, which, by the way, is essential for reindeer travel, 
for on ice they slip about like a cat on walnut-shells. On 
halting at night the deer are turned loose, and often 
wander away for miles in search of moss, although they 
never fail to return next morning. But at first it is 
rather disconcerting to see your only means of progress 
disappear, leaving you apparently stranded hundreds of 
miles from the nearest human " habitation " ! Every 
fifty miles or so there is a " stancia " or deer-station, 
which is merely a log hut plastered with mud. The in- 
terior is a low dark den about six feet high, with a floor of 
beaten earth and window-panes of ice, surrounded by a 
rough wooden platform, a portion of which is strewn with 
fir branches for the use of guests. Here a pine-log fire 
blazed night and day, rendering the place intolerable 
when cooking operations were in progress; for the 
Yakutes prefer putrid to fresh food, and the stench of 
bad deer-meat or tainted fish often drove me out of 
doors into the ferocious cold. These natives are passion- 
ately fond of this revolting form of sustenance, and I once 
found an old man in a deserted hut lying beside a dead 
deer in an advanced state of decomposition. The poor 
wretch was apparently in great pain, and I inferred by 
signs that he had been poisoned by partaking of these 
disgusting remains ! 

If vermin could be numbered by their thousands on 
the Lena, there were certainly myriads here, for every 
deer-station was occupied by the Yakute owner, his 
numerous family, several deer-drivers, and occasionally 
cattle. When the inhabited " stancias " were more than 
two hundred miles apart there was also the " povarnia," 
a rough shanty generally half full of snow and partly 
open to the winds, with a bundle of firewood which the 
previous traveller had left for his successors, perhaps 
months before. Yet even these crazy shelters saved us 
more than once from death by exposure on this lonely 
and perilous track. 

Half-way between Yakutsk and Verkhoyansk a range 



FROZEN ASIA 137 

of mountains was crossed which from a distance looked 
Hke a perpendicular wall of ice. The sleds went by a 
circuitous and easier route, being unable to negotiate, 
near the summit, a precipice of 1000 feet spanned by an 
ice-ledge about three feet wide. On the downward side, in 
order to descend a snow slope about a mile in length, 
the deer were fastened behind the sled to restrain them ; 
but the pace gradually increased until all control was 
lost and we dashed into a deep snowdrift at the bottom, 
where men, deer and sleds were mixed up in inextricable 
confusion, and whence the sled which followed us looked 
like a fly crawling down a white wall. The temperature 
that day was 45° below zero, but I hardly felt the cold, 
although the next morning, as I had not removed my 
stockings on the previous evening, one of my feet was 
badly frozen. A change of footgear at night is essential 
when sleeping here in the open, or perspiration formed 
during the day congeals during sleep into solid ice. 

The scenery here in winter-time is of wondrous beauty, 
and notwithstanding all the suffering and privation, 
it was almost enjoyable in fine weather to glide swiftly 
under pine branches glistening with hoar-frost, while 
occasional rifts in the forest disclosed a glimpse of snowy 
peaks glittering against a sky of cloudless blue, just such 
views as you get in Switzerland, although palatial hotels, 
snug chalets, and tinkling cow-bells were unfortunately 
wanting ! Smoking would at such moments have been 
an additional consolation, but in these abnormally low 
temperatures a cigar becomes glued to the lips, and the 
stem of a pipe blocked with frozen nicotine. 

Verkhoyansk, which is generally reached in about a 
fortnight from Yakutsk, is called by Russians the " Heart 
of Siberia," but political exiles know it by another name 
which is also preceded by the letter " H," but has a 
different meaning ! It consisted of forty or fifty mud- 
plastered log huts in various stages -of decay and half 
buried in snow-drifts over which ice windows peered 
mournfully. Glazing is cheap in these parts, for you 
simply cut a block of ice six or eight inches thick from the 
nearest stream, lay it on the roof of a hut until required, 
and then fix it with snow ; which soon freezes, the cold 
being so intense that notwithstanding internal warmth 



138 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

one ice window generally lasts throughout the winter. 
I thought that a more gloomy God-forsaken spot than 
Verkhoyansk could scarcely exist on the face of this 
earth. But I had yet to see Sredni-Kolymsk. Only 
the Chief of Police, and half a dozen political exiles, and 
a few Yakutes formed this little colony. Yet the Russian 
official received me in the familiar grey and scarlet 
uniform, reminding me that even this remote corner of 
the empire was under the eagle eye of the secret police ! 

An empty hut was assigned to me which, although 
devoid of furniture, was weatherproof and snug enough 
with a roaring fire, which was badly needed, for Verkho- 
yansk is the coldest place in the world. During my 
stay only 50° below zero was experienced, but I en- 
countered, about 200 miles north, 78°, which froze the 
breath into powder as it left the lips. Yet I can safely 
say that I have felt chillier in London on a damp 
December day than in this phenomenal but dry and 
still atmosphere ! For, by a merciful dispensation of 
Providence, there is never, in anything more than 
40° below zero, any wind, or no human being could 
survive it.^ 

The political exiles here declared that they had little 
to complain of except of course utter stagnation, severe 
climatic conditions, and a chronic insufficiency of food. 
Winter, they said, was preferable to summer, which, 
however, had one compensation in the shape of constant 
daylight; for candles could only be purchased at a 
ruinous cost, and they practically lived in darkness. 
Deer meat was the chief article of food, but tea and sugar 
were so dear that the former was boiled over and over 
again until it was tasteless, and sugar held in the mouth 
and removed to serve another time. Vegetables, 
although cultivated at Yakutsk, were here unobtainable, 
and although wild flowers grew freely in July and August, 
they were as scentless as immortelles. 

There is only one (so-called) mail a year from Ver- 
khoyansk to Sredni-Kolymsk, which is carried in sleds 
by the Cossacks, who convoy a consignment there every 
twelve months of from three to half a dozen political 

^ Eighty-one degrees below zero was once registered at Verkho- 
yansk : a record throughout the world. 



FROZEN ASIA 139 

exiles. 1 This journey (about as far as from London to 
Constantinople) can only be accomplished in winter, for 
it lies across a region which unless it is in a frozen con- 
dition no man can traverse. Moreover, numerous lakes 
and rivers have to be crossed, which in their natural 
state would present insuperable obstacles, for boats 
are, of course, unobtainable, and a considerable portion 
of the distance lies beyond the limit of trees. 

It took me over three weeks to accomplish this 
voyage with reindeer, and now the " stancias " were so 
far apart that we generally had to rely for shelter on 
the " povarnias," which I have already described. 

" League on league of Desolation, 
Mile on mile on mile without a change," 

aptly describes the huge desert of snow which, in winter, 
separates Verkhoyansk from the Polar Sea. And so 
sparsely is this region peopled that even a whole town can 
vanish from off the face of the earth, and no one be any 
the wiser. As a proof of this, Mr. George Kennan relates 
the following anecdote, which is endorsed by official 
statistics. 

" In 1879 there lived in the city of Pultava a poor 
apothecary named Schiller, who was banished as a 
political offender to a village in the Province of Kostroma. 
Schiller finding life tedious, ran away, and about this 
time the Tsar issued a command directing that all exiles 
found absent from places of banishment without leave 
should be sent to the Province of Yakutsk. When, there- 
fore, Schiller was re-arrested, he was banished to Irkutsk, 
and the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia was re- 
quested to place him under police surveillance in some 
part of the territory named in the Imperial command. 
The Governor- General (who had only recently come to 
Irkutsk) was not familiar with the vast region entrusted 
to his care, and therefore directed that Schiller be sent 
to the town of Zashiversk, which was (supposed to be) 
situated on the River Indigirka, a few miles south of the 
Arctic Circle. A century ago Zashiversk was a town of 
considerable importance, but it lost its pre-eminence as a 
fur-trading centre, fell gradually into decay, and finally 
^ Before the recent revolution. 



140 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

ceased to exist. Its location, however, was still marked 
on all the maps, and ' tchinovniks ' in Irkutsk were still 
pocketing the money appropriated for repairs to its 
public buildings ; when, as a matter of fact, it had not 
contained a building or inhabitant for more than half a 
century, and forest trees covered the ground it had once 
occupied. Poor Schiller, after being carried three or 
four times up and down the Rivers Lena and Indigirka 
in a vain search for a non-existent Arctic town, was finally 
brought back to Yakutsk and a report was made to the 
Governor-General that Zashiversk had ceased to exist ! 
The Governor-General therefore ordered that the prisoner 
be taken to Sredni-Kolymsk, which place, after more 
than a year of constant travel, the unfortunate druggist 
eventually reached." 

I employed on this journey over 1000 deer (many of 
which perished) ; and as we gradually crept onward into 
the unknown, a sense of unspeakable loneliness seemed to 
increase with every mile we covered. Now that shelter 
was so rarely available, an additional cause of suffering 
was want of sleep ; for in the open, on closing the eyes the 
breath in a short time formed a layer of ice over the face 
which, melting in the warmer region of the neck, gradu- 
ally trickled down next the skin until by the morning 
every stitch of underclothing was saturated. If slumber 
was prolonged for any time the mouth and eyelids would 
be closed by thin ice, and one would be awakened by 
choking and gasping for breath. 

I reached Sredni-Kolymsk in brilliant sunshine, but 
the aspect of that dismal settlement seemed to darken the 
landscape, and fill the mind with a vague sense of gloomy 
unrest. A double row of tumbledown log huts, clus- 
tered around the ruins of a wooden church, formed the 
main street, which was surrounded by perhaps a score 
of other equally squalid hovels. All around a desolate 
plain of snow with patches of Arctic vegetation fringing 
the frozen River Kolyma — over all the silence of death. 
The place looked less like an abode of humanity than 
one deserted by trappers or decimated by deadly sick- 
ness ; yet presently one or two skin-clad haggard-looking 
wretches emerged from the huts, and nodded a cheerless 
welcome. The verv air seemed tainted with death and 



FROZEN ASIA 141 

disease, and the place to scrawl the word " Despair " 
across the desolate world. 

There were about 200 people here, including one 
official, and fourteen exiles who needed no guards, 
bolts or bars, for nature supplied all three. Death would 
surely have followed any attempt to escape, for hundreds 
of miles must be traversed in any direction before reach- 
ing any sign of help or humanity. Natives of the Yakute 
tribe formed the remainder of the population, and this 
was fortunate, for Sredni-Kolymsk was the starting-point 
of my further journey of 2000 miles along an uninhabited 
coast to the Bering Straits. And these people possessed 
a few dogs, which eventually enabled me to reach them. 

I found here fourteen political exiles, two of whom 
were women, and one of the latter being Theisa Akimoff 
who attempted to assassinate the deposed Tsar at his 
coronation. 1 The others had been convicted of such 
serious political offences that they had been condemned 
to death, the capital sentence having been commuted to 
perpetual banishment in this Arctic " Inferno." It is 
now, however, my object merely to describe how ordin- 
ary mortals live in these remote regions, and not to 
discuss the justice or otherwise of Russian penal methods, 
although I may add that I have recently been informed 
that Sredni-Kolymsk has now been abolished as a place 
of exile. That it was only known during its existence 
to the dreaded " Third Section," or secret police, is 
indicated by the following remark which was made to me 
by one of the exiles here : "If the Emperor," he said, 
" could only be informed of the life we lead in this ghastly 
place, he would do away with it to-morrow." 

Sredni-Kolymsk is, in summer, as isolated from the 
rest of the world as a desert island, by flooded marshes, 
swamps and lakes which extend inland in every direction 
for over 1000 miles. A sled skims easily over their 
frozen surface, but from June till September the soil is 
so wet and spongy that you can only walk a few yards 
with the utmost difficulty. Summer here consists of a 
few weeks of damp and cloudy weather, when, even on a 
fine day, the sun looms through a curtain of mist, while 
swarms of mosquitoes add to other miseries, the sole 
^ See chap. iii. p, 20, 



142 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

protection against these pests being a heap of damp moss 
which is kept perpetually smouldering on the threshold 
of every dwelling, suffocating the inmates with clouds of 
acrid smoke. The huts were about six feet high, and 
each contained only one room with a floor of beaten 
earth, on which a few planks were laid for a sleeping- 
place. An old kerosene tin formed the only seat in a 
hovel I entered, of which the occupant (an exile) kindled 
a few sticks on the open hearth which burnt brightly 
for a moment and then flickered out, whereupon he 
clambered on to the roof and closed the chimney with 
a bundle of rags. This is the Yakute mode of warming 
an apartment, for firewood is so scarce that even in 
the depth of winter the warmth from an ordinary fire can 
never be enjoyed. At this season salt fish and rye bread 
are alone obtainable, but in the spring-time better food 
is provided in the form of geese, duck, and, until the 
autumn, fresh fish. Cold and hunger were, however, 
less dreaded than the uncanny and unbroken silence of 
winter, and this fact I learnt from the Chief of Police as 
we stood one evening watching the frozen river darkening 
in the dusk. " The stillness here is worse than anything," 
he declared. " Day after day, year after year, not a sound 
except the dull roar of ice when the Kolyma breaks up in 
the spring. I have stood here at midday and heard a 
watch tick in my pocket, and although only a few months 
have elapsed since my arrival, I shall apply for leave next 

year, or " and he tapped his forehead significantly. 

If summer here possesses one advantage arising from 
more abundant food, it also produces more sickness, 
especially malaria and smallpox, while some of the 
Yakutes suffered from leprosy. There is also a mental 
disease peculiar to these regions which is more dreaded 
than any bodily ailment, and is common to both sexes, 
who reside here for any length of time.^ The attack is 

^ The Russian explorer, Von Wrangell, mentions an apparently 
similar mental disease as existing in these regions in 1820. He writes : 
" There is here (Sredni-Kolymsk) that singular malady called mirak, 
which, according to the universal superstition of the people, proceeds 
from the ghost of a much-dreaded sorceress, which is supposed to 
enter into and torment the patient. The mirak appears to me to be 
only an extreme degree of hysteria; the persons attacked are chiefly 
women" {Siberia and the Polar Sea, by Von Wrangell, 1829). 



fo 



Ik-. 




si' 



A POLITICAL EXILE AT SREDNI-KOLYMSK HOLDING A FROZEN FISH 



FROZEN ASIA 143 

usually sudden ; a previously sane and intelligent person 
proceeding to shout, sing and dance for no apparent 
reason, and also to imitate the voice and actions of others 
who may be present at the time. The sufferer becomes 
in most cases permanently deranged. 

Although I only remained here ten days, it seemed on 
the day of my departure as though weeks had elapsed, so 
intolerable were the monotony and depression. I may 
mention that we were the first strangers from the outer 
world to visit this place (with the exception of officials, 
exiles, and Cossacks) for over forty years, the last being 
two shipwrecked sailors from the ill-fated Arctic steamer 
Jeannette. And I embarked from here on a hazardous 
journey to the Bering Straits almost with a sense of 
relief, notwithstanding serious misgivings that these 
unhappy beings might be the last fellow-creatures I 
should ever behold on this earth. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 

Religious dissension in Russia has existed for cen- 
turies, according to Stepniak (the famous Sociahst), who 
writes that, as early as 1370, a sect was founded in the 
town of Pskov, by one Strigolnik, whose doctrine rejected 
the sacraments and priesthood, and only tolerated con- 
fession if a penitent prostrated himself and confessed his 
sins to mother earth. The Strigolniks led a severe 
monastic life, devoted to fasting and prayer, and so 
despised their less ascetic fellow-townsmen that the 
latter resented the insult, and the dissenters were there- 
fore quickly suppressed in the forcibly unpleasant 
manner which, in mediaeval days, was usually employed. 

The Greek Church in Russia is generally associated 
with almost tyrannical intolerance, and yet there is no 
country in the world where so many forms of faith are 
practised, of course in secrecy, for severe penalties are 
visited on dissenters from the orthodox faith. The latter 
somewhat resembles the Catholic religion, for the Holy 
Virgin and the saints are worshipped. High Mass is said, 
and confession is compulsory, although a priest is not 
only permitted, but encouraged to marry, and instru- 
mental music in churches is prohibited. The Greek 
Church imposes innumerable fasts, and its saints-days 
number nearly half those in the year, while services 
are conducted in the ancient Sclavonic dialect, only 
sermons being delivered in the modern Russian tongue. 
Lent being very strictly observed, no meat is eaten for the 
six weeks which precede Easter Day, when the universal 
gaiety which prevails is often due to physical, as well as 
spiritual, reasons. An orthodox Russian's religion enters 
into the most trivial details of his daily life, and even 
before starting on a short journey his entire household 

144 



SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 145 

prays that safety may attend a traveller, even though he 
be an unorthodox guest; indeed, I could occasionally 
have dispensed with these ceremonies when hurrying to 
catch a train, or starting off in the wilds with an unruly 
dog-team ! In the same way, soldiers on active service 
seldom venture to attack without being previously 
blessed by a " pope," thousands of whom accompany 
the army on campaign. Even houses and rivers are 
blessed by the clergy in order to ward off destruction by 
fire, or to ensure a plentiful supply of fish ! 

The Russian " pope " is generally well paid for his 
services, and in former days was therefore often tempted 
to over-indulge in the " vodka," which flowed freely 
on feast-days. It was my privilege to enjoy the friend- 
ship of the late Procurator of the Holy Synod, M. Pobe- 
donostzeff, who devoted the last years of his life to 
remedying this evil, and generally raising the tone of the 
rural clergy; while, a few weeks before his death, he 
abolished hereditary priesthood, which was obviously 
open to many objections. The Jews ^ were also granted 
greater privileges under this humane and distinguished 
official, and it is only fair to add that the Russian Govern- 
ment was less responsible for the " Pogroms," or street 
massacres, which, at the time, aroused such indignation 
throughout Europe, than infuriated Christian citizens 
whom even strong military forces were unable to restrain. 

The Russian Lutherans number several millions, and 
Catholics are almost as numerous, but both these, 
although practically nonconformists, are only interfered 
with by the State if they attempt to make converts from 
the Greek Church. All other dissenters are known as 
" Raskolniks,"^ although this term really only applies 
to the " Staro-Vieri," or " Old-Believers," whose tenets 
are closely allied to the Greek Church, and whose creed, 
although illegal, is therefore regarded with greater 
leniency by the Holy Synod than any of the proscribed 
sects which I shall presently enumerate. This tolerance 
is probably due to the fact that many members of this 

^ The Russian Empire is said to contain more than half the Jews in 
the world. 

2 The word " Raskolniks " signifies " to split asunder," and is thus 
descriptive of seceders from the Orthodox Cburch. 
L 



146 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

sect are influential members of society, ^ devoting a 
considerable portion of their wealth to the maintenance 
and education of the poor. The " Raskolniks " chiefly 
inhabit the northern parts of Russia, to which they were 
exiled in olden days, and where they made many converts 
amongst the Lapps and Samoyedes. 

The " Staro-Vieri " cannot, perhaps, be called dissenters 
in the true sense of the word, for in remote places they 
often employ an orthodox " pope " to conduct their 
services, while the most trivial causes seem to have led to 
the separation of the churches, such as making the sign 
of the Cross with two fingers instead of three, and other 
equally minor methods of worship. Scrupulous cleanli- 
ness is maintained by every " Old-Believer," who will not 
eat out of a plate or drink from a cup which has been 
used by any one but himself, these articles being at once 
destroyed if " polluted " by any one but their owner. 

There are no less than a hundred proscribed sects in 
the Russian Empire, which, as they are scattered, not only 
throughout European Russia, but also Siberia, gather 
many adherents amongst the simple-minded, supersti- 
tious peasantry. Space will only allow of a description 
of the most important, amongst these being the " Dukho- 
bortsi," who number about 50,000, and chiefly reside in 
Southern Russia. The late Count Tolstoi was a great 
admirer of these people, whose faith specially appealed 
to him, chiefly because, being mostly of humble origin, 
their religion is based on the equality of man. This 
socialistic doctrine in an autocratic country at one time 
subjected this sect to much persecution, and Catherine II., 
although friendly with the " Old-Believers," was one 
of its bitterest opponents. Yet, notwithstanding their 
progressive proclivities, the " Dukhobortsi " are now 
peaceable citizens, and therefore enjoy freedom and 
privileges which were denied them in olden days. They do 
not worship the Supreme Being, believing that the Deity 
dwells in the soul of every man, revealing its spiritual 
influence through his mind and actions. The ordinary 
conception of Immortality is not admitted, nor the 
existence of Heaven or Hell, for the " Dukhobor " regards 
the promises of a future life as set forth by the Scriptures 
^ They number about thirty millions. 



SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 147 

to apply only to human existence. The world will never, 
he avers, be destroyed, or depopulated, but eventually 
good will overcome evil, and all will be harmony and 
peace on earth, where conditions of human life will 
continue to exist, in their present state, for all eternity. 

The " Dukhobortsi " possess no sacred buildings, having 
a strong aversion to any kind of religious ceremony. 
Baptism, marriage and burial are therefore solemnized 
by a simple declaration, usually made by the head of a 
family, who officiates as priest. Some years ago a party 
of these people settled in Canada, where they were at 
once arrested by the police for appearing in public in a 
state of nudity, this practice originating from the fact 
that, so long as Adam and Eve remained in a state of 
nature, they retained their chastity ! The " Dukho- 
bortsi " are, to a man, " conscientious objectors " to 
military service, thereby occasionally exposing them- 
selves to as much contempt and ridicule as those mis- 
guided beings who, in England, now seek to cloak their 
cowardice under this feeble and palpable pretext. 

The " Molokani," or " milk-drinkers," ^ seceded from the 
" Dukhobortsi " about the end of the eighteenth century, 
then forming an entirely independent community, which 
has so rapidly increased that they are now more numer- 
ous than the original sect of which they formerly formed 
part. The "Molokani," unlike the "Dukhobortsi," 
believe in a future existence but not in Hell, maintaining 
that sinners are punished in this world, not in the next ; 
however much a man has transgressed, all will be 
forgiven him. Their meetings are held in an ordinary 
dwelling-house, and they are of the simplest description, 
one person reading passages from the Bible and then 
expatiating upon the text. I have heard some of their 
sacred music, which is very beautiful and less mournful 
than that of the Greek Church, being generally in the 
major key. A " Molokani " marriage is solemnized by 
the reading of suitable passages from the Bible, followed 
by a brief exhortation from an elder; and divorce, 
although sanctioned, is very rare. 

The " Molokani " are strict vegetarians, who consider 

^ So called because they keep no fasts and drink milk freely during 
Lent. 



148 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

it sinful to sacrifice animals for food, total abstainers, 
and, like the " Dukhobortsi," are so averse to conscrip- 
tion that they are always assigned to non-combatant 
sections of the army. 

Although of comparatively modern origin, the " Stun- 
dists " have now become a very influential sect, which 
originated at Odessa, on the Black Sea, but now has 
followers in many other parts of Russia. The founders 
are said to have been German Lutherans who migrated 
to the fertile black-lands about sixty years ago, and the 
faith somewhat resembles that of " Christian Science," 
for although the Scriptures are read, the clergy is replaced 
by elders, who conduct services at which any member 
of the congregation may address the remainder. Many 
of the Stundists are wealthy, and as the poorer members 
ure generally thrifty, law-abiding people, they are rarely 
mterfered with by the authorities. 

The " Old-Believers," " Dukhobortsi," " Molokani," 
and " Stundists " are, perhaps, the most important reli- 
gious sects in Russia ; but there are, of course, innumer- 
able others, a few of which lean towards mysticism and 
even pagan worship. These include the " Stranik," a 
kind of hermit, who forsakes civilization to lead a 
lonely and primitive life in the forests ; the " Philip- 
povtsi," who regard suicide and the killing of their friends 
as virtues; the " Moltchatni," who, like the Trappist 
monks, take vows of eternal silence ; and the " Skaurny," 
a dancing sect resembling our English Shakers. I have 
personally only come in contact with the members of 
three of these minor communities, viz : the " Napoleon- 
ists," " Skoptsi," and " Shamans," who, however, are 
perhaps the most curious and interesting of them all. 

I met the " Napoleonist " some years ago, on the 
shores of Lake Baikal, and although the former thereby 
ran the risk of a long term of imprisonment, he was not 
afraid to impart, under vows of strict secrecy, the prin- 
ciples of his mystic faith to an Englishman. I, therefore, 
learnt that the " Napoleonists " (who reside only in 
Eastern Siberia) exclusively worship the Great Emperor, 
regarding his departed Majesty not only as the coming 
Messiah, but as their actual ruler, thereby disavowing all 
allegiance to the Tsar. My informant produced a small 



SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 149 

plaster bust of Bonaparte, which he worshipped every 
night, and assured me that Napoleon's spirit had flown 
from St. Helena to the shores of the great Siberian lake, 
where it was only awaiting a favourable opportunity to 
resume a mortal shape. An enormous army would 
then be raised to overthrow the Romanoff dynasty, and 
the world would gradually be subjected to the Muscovite 
yoke, under Bonaparte, when those who had remained 
faithful to him would enjoy eternal peace and prosperity. 

On another occasion I visited a small colony of the 
" Skoptsi," near Yakutsk, to which place they had been 
banished for religious offences, but where they had con- 
trived, even in these Arctic wilds, to raise a flourishing 
agricultural settlement on the outskirts of the city. 
Cultivation of any kind had, before their arrival, been 
deemed impossible in this inclement region, but now the 
Skopt exile amasses wealth, while the poor " moujik " 
gazes enviously at his fertile fields and sleek cattle, and 
wonders how it is all done. And his surprise is only 
natural, for the yearly sale by these people of corn and 
barley (formerly unknown) now realizes over a million 
roubles ! Moreover, only thirty years ago the entire 
Yakutsk district contained but a few head of miserable 
half-starved cattle, whereas the Skoptsi now export, 
every year, two million roubles' worth of frozen meat to 
various settlements on the Lena, and provide the market 
at Yakutsk with several kinds of vegetables, where for- 
merly only potatoes were obtainable. 

I found the little community which had accomplished 
this agricultural miracle at Markha, near Yakutsk, where 
every soul in the place was a Skopt, and where the scru- 
pulous cleanliness of the village was in agreeable contrast 
to the dirt and squalor of others in the vicinity. The 
Chief-Elder's well-built wooden house was comfortably 
furnished, and contained an extensive library, while his 
sitting-room was adorned with palms and flowers, ob- 
viously artificial, but which were none the less cheerful 
and comforting on that grey and wintry day. And, to 
my surprise, my host gave me an excellent lunch and 
plied me with champagne, for these people, although 
misers at heart, are fond of displaying their wealth, 
which is generally considerable. Yet they are generous 



150 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

and kind to their poor, as was shown by an institute 
maintained here for the aged and needy of both sexes. 

My Skopt entertainer was a bright, intelUgent person, 
well posted in current subjects of interest even in distant 
Europe, but he and the rest were, notwithstanding their 
friendliness and hospitality, the most repulsive collection 
of beings I have ever beheld. The men, both young and 
old, were stout and ungainly, with smooth, pasty faces, 
and a shrill treble voice, while the women looked ema- 
ciated and prematurely aged. Not being then ac- 
quainted with the revolting practices of this sect, I 
ingenuously remarked on the apparent scarcity of very 
young people in Markha, and was informed that the 
" White Doves "^ are bound by vows of absolute chastity, 
both sexes so mutilating themselves that they can neither 
beget nor bear children. They therefore seemed to 
regard the acquisition of riches as their sole pleasure in 
life. When a Skopt dies his property should legally 
revert to the State, but he generally conceals it in some 
remote place where, if not discovered, it indefinitely 
remains. The Skopt religion seems to be founded on the 
text ; "If thine eye offend thee pluck it out," for it 
argues that a man should be as sexless as an Angel, in 
order to gain the approval of his Maker, quite ignoring 
the deadly sin which is committed to attain this end. 

The " Khlysti " derive their title from the word 
" Khlyst," a whip, and date back to the sixteenth cen- 
tury, calling themselves the " People of God," although 
they are known to the orthodox church simply as " The 
Flagellants." The exact principles of this faith are 
rather hard to define, although it is probably remotely 
allied to Christianity, for the " Khlysti " declare that 
Our Saviour occasionally re-visits this earth in human 
shape, a suitable member of the sect being generally 
deputed to impersonate Him. I could never glean, even 
from Russians well read on the subject, what transpires 
during the services held by these people, which take 
place at dead of night and with the utmost secrecy, 
every member being admitted by a different pass-word. 
Some say that the proceedings are harmless, although 
it is known that both sexes dance together in a state of 
^ The " Skoptsi " are known by this name in Russia. 



SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 151 

nudity and whip each other with birches until a state of 
rehgious frenzy is attained, often ending in a fit, or loss 
of consciousness. Others aver that these ceremonies 
lead to acts of the grossest immorality, although the 
Khlysti are, in everyday life, generally staid and re- 
spectable people. Marriage amongst them is, however, 
unknown, a man living for a time with the partner of 
his choice, and, when tired of her, selecting another, 
which the woman is also free to do. 

" Shamanism " (one of the oldest religions in the 
world) is chiefly practised by the Yakutes, Tchuktchis 
and other fur-clad races, for amongst civilized Russians 
it is practically unknown, and only a few Europeans 
have therefore beheld the weird doings of this community 
in the depths of the forest or out on the lonely " Tun- 
dras." My friend, Mr. J. Stadling, the Swedish explorer 
(who some years ago led an expedition through Northern 
Siberia in search of Andre), has made a special study of 
the Shaman faith, of which the following may be taken as 
a lucid description : ^ " The Shaman universe," he writes, 
" consists of a number of planes, or worlds, separated 
from each other by intermediate space. The seven upper 
planes constitute the kingdom of light, and seven, or 
more, lower ones the kingdom of darkness. Between 
these upper and lower layers the surface of the earth, or 
habitation of mankind, is situated, whence the latter 
is exposed to the influence of both the upper and lower 
world — i. e. the powers of light and of darkness. All 
the divinities which create and preserve the children of 
men have their abode in the upper planes, or world of 
light, while the planes of the lower world harbour evil 
spirits ever seeking to destroy humanity. In the highest 
plane of all (the ' Seventh Heaven ' ), the Great Tangara 
(as he is called in Northern Siberia) is enthroned and 
exalted far above all good or evil, for this pagan deity 
meddles but little with the Universe, caring neither for 
sacrifices nor prayers. In the fifth or ninth plane of 
the lower world the Prince of Darkness sits on a black 
throne, surrounded by his Satanic court. The inter- 
mediate planes are the abode of spirits of various degrees 
of light and darkness, some being the ghosts of human 
1 Through Siberia, by J. Stadling, London, 1901. 



152 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

beings. These, however, are able to influence the 
destiny of man for good or evil; whence the necessity 
of the ' Shaman,' or Priest, who alone is privileged to 
communicate with the spiritual world." There would 
thus seem to be some sort of affinity between this 
ancient faith of savage races and the modern and 
civilized Theosophy of which my friend, the late Madame 
Blavatsky, was such an able exponent. 

I once met at Tomsk, in Western Siberia, a fur-trader 
who had actually witnessed a Shaman ceremony, which 
he thus described : "I came on them by accident in a 
lonely part of the forest, but concealed myself behind 
some undergrowth. In a circle of flaming logs I beheld 
perhaps a dozen natives seated around a priest, or Sha- 
man, who was clad in a long white robe. Round his 
neck was a circular brass plate signifying the sun, and 
all over his body were suspended bits of metal, small bells 
and copper coins. The ceremony performed by this 
strange being seemed to consist of circling round, with- 
out cessation, for nearly an hour, at the end of which 
he commenced to howl and foam at the mouth, to the 
violent excitement of his audience. The gyrations 
gradually increased in rapidity, until at last the dancer 
fell heavily to the ground, face downwards, apparently 
in an epileptic fit. The meeting then commenced to 
disperse, and I fled as quickly and silently as possible, 
for had I been discovered my life would certainly have 
paid for my intrusion." 

The museum at Yakutsk contains some interesting 
relics pertaining to Shamanism, amongst others articles 
found in the tomb, presumably, of an important person- 
age, for it contained valuable jewellery, arms, and per- 
sonal effects. I noticed that everything, from the 
corpse's shroud to a brass tobacco-box, had been punc- 
tured with some sharp instrument, and a Russian 
friend explained that all personal property buried with a 
Shaman is thus pierced with a dagger, in order to " kill " 
it before interment ! 

I only once saw a Shaman priest in the flesh, and this 
occurred in a post-house in Arctic Siberia, where I was 
awakened at dead of night by an object in shapeless 
grey rags, with a pale, evil countenance which, dimly 



SOME CURIOUS CREEDS 153 

revealed by flickering firelight, leered at me from, a 
tangled mass of coarse grey hair. Every movement of 
the creature was accompanied by a tinkling sound caused 
by scraps of iron, rusty nails, copper coins and other 
metal rubbish which dangled around its body from head 
to foot. And its presence was so unspeakably foul and 
repulsive that it tainted the already fetid air with a 
faint, sickly odour of corruption. How, or why, this 
apparition entered the place I never knew, and it 
was stealthily departing when my Cossack attendant, 
aroused by the creaking of the door, promptly fired his 
revolver at the retreating figure, with as little com- 
punction as though it had been a weasel or rat. " One 
of those cursed Shamans," muttered my " orthodox " 
companion, lying down again with a grunt of disappoint- 
ment; " pity I missed him ! " 



CHAPTER XV 

SOME STRANGE RACES 

The native races who, from time to time, have come 
under British rule may be numbered by their millions, 
yet Russia's alien subjects, although less numerous, are 
almost as varied as those which swear allegiance to 
King George. I have drunk " koumiss " with the 
Kirghiz, shared a " narghileh " with a Bokharan, and 
eaten whale-blubber with Tchuktchis in the frozen 
north, and as all were more or less interesting from 
various points of view, a brief description of some of 
the tribes with which I have come in contact may here 
not be out of place. 

The most numerous non-Slavonic subjects of the 
Tsar are the Tartars, who now number over 3,000,000, 
and who, since their first invasion of Russia early in 
the thirteenth century, have so largely influenced the 
course of Muscovite history. Many of them are now as 
well educated and prosperous as Europeans, for they 
are a clean and temperate people, which cannot always 
be said of the " moujik," although, unlike the latter, 
they have a characteristic Asiatic distaste for hard 
work of any kind. The men are generally middle-sized 
and muscular, with a sallow complexion, broad nostrils 
and beady black eyes, while the women disfigure them- 
selves by plastering their faces with paint, and generally 
lose their good looks by becoming stout and ungraceful 
at an early age. The Tartars are, of course, strict 
Mahometans, many becoming " mullahs," or priests, 
who, after completing their education at a large Maho- 
metan College at Ufa, occasionally make the Mecca 
pilgrimage, in order to attain more religious influence 
amongst the faithful on their return. 

Many Tartars in the Volga districts have adopted 

154 



SOME STRANGE RACES 155 

European dress, but their heads are always shaven in 
the Mahometan fashion, and covered, even when 
indoors, by a Hnen skull-cap. The women are never 
permitted to perform manual work of any kind, for 
the men are generally well-to-do, and able to employ 
as many labourers as are necessary to cultivate their 
gardens and fields. A wealthy Tartar's wife is there- 
fore generally a spoilt, indolent creature, whom her 
husband loves to bedeck with costly silks and jewels, 
and these are worn even when living in the Steppes, 
where these people lead a nomadic life in tents, being 
chiefly engaged in roaming over limitless plains, herding 
and grazing horses, although even here their canvas 
dwellings are always luxuriously furnished. It was in 
one of these " yurtas " ^ that I first tasted " koumiss," 
or fermented mares' milk, and have no desire to repeat 
the experiment, although I know of several cases of 
advanced consumption which have been completely 
cured by a lengthened treatment of this nauseous 
beverage. 

The " Tchuvash " are another branch of Tartar 
origin, who inhabit the Orenburg district, and who 
bear rather an evil reputation, as, unlike most Tartars, 
they are confirmed thieves and drunkards, who, having 
become Christians, are rather despised by their com- 
patriots. The Christianity they practise is, however, 
anything but orthodox, and includes strange rites 
(probably of Shaman origin), while their mode of divorce 
is especially curious. When the decree is pronounced, 
husband and wife lie on the ground, secured together, 
back to back, by a cord, which is severed by a mutual 
friend of the couple, both of whom are then free to 
marry again. 

The Tartar race consists of so many branches and 
dialects that it would be impossible, in a work of this 
nature, to describe them in detail. Those who im- 
pressed me the most (and with whom I am best 
acquainted) were the Kirghiz, for they, more than 
any, have retained their Oriental surroundings and 
habits, and greet you with a "salaam" instead of 
" zdrazdvouite," ^ while their villages have an essen- 
1 Tent. 2 Russian " Good-day." 



156 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

tially Eastern appearance, the wooden huts being 
interspersed with brick mosques and minarets, from 
the summit of which you may hear, every evening, the 
" muezzin " calhng the people to prayer. The Kirghiz 
generally live in the vicinity of grazing lands, for they 
live by their horses, which are famed for their speed 
and endurance, although thousands of them perish in 
winter, when no fodder is provided. For in the Steppes 
a sudden rise of the thermometer frequently melts the 
snow, which on re-freezing is converted into solid ice, 
through which the poor beasts cannot get at the grass 
beneath. In the spring-time they are, therefore, reduced 
to bags of bones, but soon recover under the influence 
of summer sunshine and rich vegetation. It is a case, 
however, of the survival of the fittest, wherefore the 
Kirghiz horse is even, if possible, hardier than the 
Siberian pony. The late Captain Burnaby mentions a 
chief of this tribe who once galloped two hundred miles 
in twenty-four hours over steep and difficult country, 
and his mount was none the worse at the finish. 

I have always found the Kirghiz cheery and good- 
tempered, hospitable and fond of a joke, but such 
terrible gluttons that I have seen three of them dispose 
of a fair-sized sheep at a single meal ! But they are 
tough, wiry fellows, who generally die of old age or 
accident; and a Russian doctor told me that their 
longevity was chiefly due to " koumiss," which men, 
women and children imbibe in enormous quantities. ^ 

The Bashkir Tartars, who inhabit the Ural region, | 
are nomads like the Kirghiz, and only reside in villages 
during the winter, living in tents at other seasons of 
the year and tending droves of horses, of which some 
of their chiefs own two and three thousand. But the 
Bashkirs are also good agriculturists, and are renowned 
as expert bee-keepers, their hives furnishing some of 
the best honey in Russia. They are also fonder of 
field sports than other Tartar tribes, especially hawking, 
and breed an unusually large kind of falcon, with which 
they are able to hunt foxes and even wolves. 

Space compels me to pass over the interesting people 
whom I have met, from time to time, in Russian Central 
Asia (which people rarely realize is nearly as extensive 



SOME STRANGE RACES 157 

as our Indian Empire)/ while the Georgians, Circassians, 
and others who inhabit the Caucasus will be described 
in a following chapter. Travelling due north, there- 
fore, from the Kirghiz country, we shall bid farewell 
to the Tartars at Kazan, on the Volga, and, after an 
arduous journey, reach the Arctic Ocean, the coast of 
which, from North Cape to the Bering Straits, is sparsely 
peopled by some of the strangest people in existence. 
These will become gradually wilder as we progress 
eastward, easy reach of civilization rendering the Lap- 
lander, at the western extremity of these Arctic wastes, 
a decent member of society as compared to the depraved 
and filthy " Tchuktchi," who. inhabits the north-eastern 
coast of Siberia, at the other end of the line. 

The Samoyedes, who inhabit the shores of the Arctic 
Ocean from the Yenesei River to the White Sea, number 
about 25,000, and are almost as civilized as the Lapps, 
for many of them are Christians, and frequent associa- 
tion with Europeans has rendered them morally and 
mentally superior to their eastern neighbours, the 
Ostiaks, who may be described as the first step in the 
descending scale of civilization. The Ostiaks (about as 
numerous as the Samoyedes) ^ are found in the vast 
tract of country lying between the Obi and Yenesei 
rivers and the Polar Sea. In summer they wander up 
and down the banks of these rivers, living in birch-bark 
tents, and earning a livelihood by fishing, the produce 
of their nets being salted and exported (via Tobolsk) to 
European Russia, but in early autumn the rivers are 
gripped by ice, and the Ostiak then returns to his 
winter quarters and reindeer on the coast. During 
summer he lives entirely upon fish, often eaten raw, 
his winter diet consisting of bear-flesh, game, and 
reindeer milk. Compared with tribes further east the 
Ostiaks are friendly and hospitable, possessing but few 
firearms, and generally using the old-fashioned bow 
and arrow to bring down the blue fox and other valuable 
fur-bearing animals. These people had the quaintest 

^ It has an area of 1,325,530 square miles, that of India being 
1,802,000. 

^ Scurvy and a yet more loathsome disease introduced by Russian 
fur-traders is slowly decimating this tribe. 



158 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

method of measuring time I have ever observed, even 
amongst savage races, for, when I set out on a short 
journey, they said it would take me twenty " kettles " 
to accomplish. And I only afterwards discovered their 
meaning, which was to the effect that I should arrive 
at my destination in the same space of time as would 
be needed to consecutively set cold water in the said 
kettles on the boil ! 

I have never visited the Ostiak in winter quarters, 
but arrived one evening at one of their summer en- 
campments, and was nearly torn to pieces by half a 
dozen large, savage dogs, which they never move with- 
out. The latter were, unlike their owners, the most 
sagacious beasts I ever saw, and also the cleanliest, 
for every morning I saw them go of their own accord 
to the river, and bathe like human beings ! An Ostiak 
encampment has, even in summer, a depressing aspect, 
and it looked on this occasion, when viewed by the 
light of a crimson sunset, the picture of desolation. 
In the foreground columns of grey smoke rose sluggishly 
from two or three grimy tents, while skin-clad forms 
flitted silently to and fro getting in the nets and canoes 
for the night. And it took me some time to become 
inured to a faint, sickly odour which is peculiar to this 
tribe, and is caused by their repugnance to salt, although 
it is provided for them, at considerable expense, by the 
Government. Some of the Ostiak women would have 
been almost attractive if their teeth had not loosened 
and dropped out, owing to a lack of this essential 
article of diet. Most Siberian tribes regard their women 
as beasts of burthen, but the Ostiaks appeared to treat 
their wives with kindness and respect. The Samoyede 
woman, on the other hand, is invariably persecuted, 
and, as the men consider child-birth degrading, the 
unfortunate mother is constantly maltreated until it 
is born. A woman during pregnancy is tortured until 
she confesses with whom she has been unfaithful, often 
naming an imaginary lover in order to escape further 
ill-treatment, although even if she be proved unchaste 
a small sum of money, or its equivalent in drink or 
tobacco, compensates her husband. 

I once lived for some months amongst the Dyaks of 



SOME STRANGE RACES 159 

Borneo, and was, on this occasion, much struck with 
the many points of similarity between them and the 
Ostiaks, although the former are a far finer race. The 
dug-out canoes used here were identically the same in 
shape and construction as those I had seen in Central 
Borneo, and the Ostiak paddles were carved with much 
the same patterns, a curious coincidence which may 
interest students of ethnology. 

You must go far afield even from the remote town of 
Yakutsk (already described) to find the indigenous 
native of that enormous territory, which, although very 
sparsely peopled, is nearly the size of Europe ; and this, 
T may add, is only one of many such districts in Siberia ! 
The Yakute is shorter and slighter than the Ostiak, and 
is also less hospitable and more mercenary, although, 
unlike most of these tribes, he is cleanly and well 
dressed, his fur garments being ornamented with 
intricate patterns, while the women wear white deer- 
skins and a rather becoming head-dress of the same 
material. The wealthier Yakutes wear sables, of which 
the finest in the world are found in this district, and 
sold, even here, for large sums to Russian traders for 
sale in the capitals of Europe. The Yakutes are per- 
haps the most intelligent of these Arctic tribes, and 
many are clever craftsmen, who, like the Chinese, will 
copy almost anything given them for that purpose. An 
exile at Yakutsk told me that, being in want of a fork, 
he commissioned a Yakute to make him one of wood, 
a silver one being used as a model, and was much sur- 
prised to receive the next day a perfect imitation of 
the original article skilfully made of iron. 

The Yakute winter dwellings are made of logs, which, 
being protected by banks of earth, afford more warmth 
than those of other natives. Human beings, cows and 
calves share these " yurtas," and even occasionally 
reindeer, for the latter provide these people with cloth- 
ing, food and drink, and are therefore carefully tended, 
the more so that a species of intoxicant, nearly as 
potent as " arak," is derived from their milk. The 
latter is generally accompanied, at festivals, by a kind 
of cake made of fir-tree bark, powdered very fine, which 
reeks of turpentine, but which is here regarded as a 



160 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

luxury. Epidemics of smallpox are common in this 
district, and Russian traders frequently come upon a 
village deserted by all but dogs and reindeer, while 
the corpses of those who have succumbed lie rotting 
above ground. And most of them die, for when a 
Yakute is attacked by this dreaded disease a cup of 
water and bundle of fire-wood are placed within reach, 
and he is left to his fate. 

The Tunguse country extends from the Yenesei 
province to the Pacific Ocean, and also along the whole 
length of the river Amur. This is the most numerous 
tribe in Siberia (numbering about 50,000), whose cus- 
toms show traces of Japanese influence, for steam 
communication has for years existed between the Amur 
and Japan. The Tunguses are, however, dying out, 
owing to the yearly increasing influx of Russian and 
Chinese emigrants, whose more modern methods of trade 
are gradually depriving the Tunguses of their former 
means of existence by the sale of fish, furs and fossil ivory. 

It may interest the reader to know how these tribes 
dress in winter, in order to withstand the ferocious 
cold, and my own costume may serve as an example, 
for (except the underwear and " duffle " suit) it was 
supplied to me by a Yakute. My apparel consisted of 
two pairs of flannel singlets and drawers, thin deerskin 
breeches, and three pairs of thick woollen socks reach- 
ing over the knee, over which I wore a jacket and 
trousers of " duffle " (a kind of thin felt), and deerskin 
mocassins (leather would instantly freeze the feet), 
secured around the leg by thongs. Over this was a 
second pair of thicker deerskin breeches, and a loose, 
heavy coat of the same fur reaching to the knees, with 
a wolverine hood almost entirely concealing the face, 
which, in order to avoid frost-bite, must always be 
kept smeared with vaseline or some other oily sub- 
stance. Under this hood I wore two close-fitting 
worsted caps, and over them a deerskin cap with ear- 
flaps. Two pairs of thick worsted gloves and finger- 
less bearskin mits reaching to the elbow completed the 
outfit, and I may add that I have often shivered, even 
under this mountain of material, on (for these regions) 
a comparatively warm day ! 



Wf^^^ 




TCHUKTCHI WOMAN AND CHILD, MIDWAY BETWEEN KOLYMA RIVER 

AND BERING STRAITS 

(Author's tent and Tchuktchi walrus-hide hut in background) 



SOME STRANGE RACES 161 

Of the natives inhabiting Kamchatka and the shores 
of the Okhotzk Sea I have no personal knowledge, 
although I have, on two occasions, had to live for weeks 
at a time with their northern neighbours, the " Tchuk- 
tchis," and to share a walrus-hide hut with over a score 
of these unsavoury people, under conditions which, on 
the first occasion, nearly cost me my life. Indeed, had 
I not been rescued by a belated whaler in the late 
autumn, when ice was closing round the coast, severing 
all communication until the following summer, nothing 
could have saved me. 

There are in all about 12,000 Tchuktchis, some of 
whom inhabit the Arctic coast from Tchaun Bay to the 
Bering Straits, and rely on the sea for a living, while 
others wander about the mountains of the interior with 
herds of reindeer. These natives are nominally Russian 
subjects, yet for two centuries they have resisted con- 
quest, and to this day pay no taxes, nor, indeed, have 
they ever set eyes on a Russian official. ^ For, strange 
as it may seem, the Great White Tsar himself has less 
influence here than the skipper of the grimiest American 
whaler, so long as the latter appears every summer 
with a plentiful supply of the vile concoction known 
as whisky, which these natives receive in exchange for 
whalebone, walrus tusks and furs. Indeed, were it 
not for the San Francisco whalers the Tchuktchis would 
probably disappear, in a very short time, from the face 
of the earth. 

I have, as I have said, twice lived with the Tchuk- 
tchis : once in '98, when I endeavoured to reach Paris 
by land from New York, and failed to get further than 
Oumwaidjik, one of their settlements on Bering Straits. 
Here, when the American revenue cutter which landed 
me had sailed away, I was regarded as a prisoner by 
the chief of the place, who appropriated my belongings 
and subjected me to such brutal treatment that, had 

^ " These people for many years resisted every attempt made by 
the Russians either to subdue them or to pass through their country. 
Of a force numbering two hundred armed men, who were sent into 
their territory, rather for the purpose of scientific exploration than 
with any views of conquest, not a soul returned, nor has their fate 
been ascertained.*' — Professor Eden. 
M 



162 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

it not been for my timely rescue, just before the closing 
of navigation, I must have perished. I therefore 
avoided Oumwaidjik on my second, (and successful), 
journej'- from Paris to New York, and lived at Whalen, 
a village consisting of about 300 less objectionable 
natives and thirty walrus-hide huts (eighty miles north 
of Oumwaidjik), until a crossing of the Straits was 
rendered practicable. But even at Whalen my position 
was rather precarious, owing to the fact that, however 
well disposed the Tchuktchi may be when sober, he 
invariably becomes, when drunk, a homicidal maniac.^ 
And my arrival on this occasion was celebrated by a 
feast, at which so much " tanglefoot " ^ was consumed 
that by sunset every man in the place was intoxicated, 
with the exception of the chief, in whose hut I con- 
cealed myself until the trouble was over. Nevertheless, 
all his companions were armed with Winchester rifles, 
and reeled throughout the night about the settlement, 
firing ball-cartridge in every direction, and vowing 
vengeance on the white man whom a few hours before 
they had greeted with effusive hospitality ! And the 
next morning, when sober, every native was again quite 
friendly ; but as these entertainments took place about 
twice a week during my two months' stay, I gradually 
realized that Whalen, although perhaps less dangerous 
than Oumwaidjik, was anything but a desirable residence ! 
The village is situated on a sandy beach at the foot 
of precipitous cliffs, and, as I reached it late in the 
spring, I could not stir many yards from the place 
owing to deep slush and melting snow. I therefore 
never saw an inland Tchuktchi, but those on the coast 
seemed fairly intelligent (when sober), and possessed of 
great physical strength, owing to a life of incessant peril 
and activity, in summer fighting furious gales in flimsy 
skin boats, in winter hunting walrus and seal in the 
cold, dark silence of the ice. The men wore a deerskin 
garment reaching a little below the waist, and secured 

^ European whalemen are occasionally killed during these orgies, 
and during the few weeks I was here two natives were shot. — Author's 
note. 

* A slang term used by whaling men for the cheap intoxicant which 
they sell to the Tchuktchis. 



SOME STRANGE RACES 163 

by a walrus thong, and hair-seal breeches and moccasins, 
topped by a close-fitting fur cap like a baby's bonnet, 
while all carried an ugly-looking knife in a leather 
sheath. The women were small in stature, and some 
would have been pretty but for hard, weather-beaten 
features, caused by exposure to all kinds of weather. 
Nearly all had teeth of snowy whiteness, much disfigured 
by the constant chewing of sealskin to render it pliable 
for making moccasins and other articles. Only the 
women tattooed their faces and wore deerskin " com- 
binations," trimmed at the neck and wrists with wol- 
verine, their hair being dressed in two long plaits inter- 
twined with beads, copper coins, and other cheap trinkets 
procured from whalemen. The garments of both sexes 
were occasionally trimmed with coloured fur, of bright 
red or green, worked into intricate patterns, and I 
wondered how they obtained the dye, until I dis- 
covered that the green tint was extracted from the 
urine of dogs, and the red from a rock some distance 
away in the interior. 

I can safely say that the Tchuktchis are. without 
exception, the filthiest race, both in their mode of life 
and bodily habits, in creation. Were I to describe 
one -tenth of the revolting incidents which I witnessed 
during my stay even at Whalen, (at Oumwaidjik it was 
worse), the reader would lay down this book in disgust. 
I will therefore only briefly explain that these people 
wash, not in water, but a certain emanation of the 
human body, and that their upper garments are so 
made that the hand and arm can be thrust right into 
them to relieve the annoyance caused by vermin. And 
these are the least repellent of the sickening practices 
in which I saw the Tchuktchis habitually indulge. 

There is a theory that the latter originally migrated 
here from the American continent, but this, I think, is 
doubtful, as, although they are barely thirty miles 
apart, there is no resemblance whatever between the 
Alaskan Eskimo and his Siberian neighbours. For even 
natives of the Siberian settlements varied with regard 
to language and personal characteristics, and although 
at Whalen I was well treated, I was warned not to go 
near East Cape, only four miles away, where the natives 



164 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

were said to be " dangerous." Moreover, the dialect 
spoken at East Cape differed from that at Whalen, 
which latter was again different from that which was 
spoken at Oumwaidjik. 

The hut in which I lived at Whalen was of walrus 
hide, and measured about forty feet round and fifteen 
feet high in the centre, the only aperture being a very 
low doorway. Dogs roamed freely about a large outer 
chamber stored with hunting and fishing tackle, and 
which led into a similar inner space screened with deer- 
skins, where the inmates ate and slept. The darkness 
here was dimly illumined by seal-oil lamps, which were 
never extinguished, maintaining night and day a tem- 
perature of over 85° Fahr. And the heat and stench 
were beyond description, for although, at night, men, 
women and children stripped naked, the perspiration 
poured off them, while the days were even worse, for 
then the unspeakable filth of the place was more clearly 
revealed. The daily meal — which, having no pro- 
visions, I had to share — consisted of seal-meat, occa- 
sionally varied by stale goose eggs and fish-roe, flavoured 
with seal-oil; also a kind of seaweed found in the 
stomach of a dead walrus. When smoking the Tchuk- 
tchis used a tiny brass Chinese pipe, and did not emit, 
but swallowed the smoke, while the cheapest American 
tobacco was so precious that it was only chewed and 
passed from mouth to mouth until the flavour had 
been completely extracted. When smoked — on rare 
occasions — it was eked out with seal hairs ! 

As the weather got warmer, life would have been 
more bearable had it not been for the drink-feasts, 
which constantly recalled the unpleasant affinity be- 
tween a barrel of whisky and bloodshed. When I 
arrived here most of the fiery spirit left during the 
previous summer by the whalers had been consumed, 
but the chief (although himself an abstainer) had con- 
trived to brew a special brand of his own, which he 
would first retail to his less temperate companions, and 
then barricade himself and prepare for squalls. This 
beverage was even stronger than the American " tangle- 
foot," and was made by mixing together one part each 
of flour and molasses with four parts of water and then 




A TCHUKTCHI " WITCH " NEAR TCHAUN BAY (n.E. COAST OF SIBERIA.) 



SOME STRANGE RACES 165 

letting the mixture ferment. My host's distillery con- 
sisted of a coal-oil tin, an old gun-barrel, and a wooden 
tub, the mash being placed in the tin, from which the 
gun-barrel, which served as the coil, led into the tub, 
which was filled with cracked ice. A fire was then 
built under the tin, and as steam rose from the heated 
mess it was condensed in the gun-barrel by the ice in 
the tub, to drop, in the shape of liquor, through the 
gun-barrel into a drinking-cup. It therefore took a 
long time to obtain even half a pint of the poisonous 
stuff, which, however, made up in strength what it 
lacked in quantity. 

The Tchuktchis must have some sort of religion, for 
they occasionally performed strange rites, one of which 
was to throw pieces of walrus or seal meat into the sea 
to abate its fury, and there were other signs of their 
belief in a Supreme Being. I also ascertained that 
when a Tchuktchi's end is easy and painless he is con- 
demned to eternal torment, while a violent death 
ensures eternal peace. This belief probably accounts 
for the " Kamitok," a ceremony practised only by 
these people, and which I witnessed at Oumwaidjik, 
where an old man was strangled with a walrus thong 
because he had become too old to work. The victim, 
oddly enough, seemed to evince less interest in his 
impending execution than the distribution of " tangle- 
foot " by which it was preceded, when every one drank 
to excess, only the executioner remaining sufficiently 
sober to give the coup de grace. Women, I was told, 
are never put to death in this manner. ^ 

I sometimes went seal-hunting at Whalen, but this 
is poor fun in very cold weather, when you have to 
watch a hole in the ice, sometimes for hours together, 
before the animal's head appears; which, moreover, it 
often fails to do ! But walrus-hunting is glorious sport, 

^ " One of the attendants I had with me in the Kolyma country 
was a man of fifty, and the father and elder brothers had already 
followed in the way of their ancestors (by the 'Kamitok'). Once, 
while stricken with a violent fever, instead of taking the medicine that 
I gave him, he inquired anxiously if I were sure he would recover at 
all, otherwise he felt bound to send for his son and ask for the last 
stroke." — A Strange People of the North, by Waldemar Bogoras, 
Harper's Magazine, April 1903. 



166 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

involving a certain amount of risk, for when one of 
these beasts is sighted, and even if it is blowing a 
hurricane, the " baidaras " (large walrus-hide canoes) 
put to sea, and it is a race who shall first reach the 
monster, which is now no longer dispatched with har- 
poons, but firearms. The walrus I saw killed measured 
ten feet long, and had quite that girth, and must have 
weighed over a ton, yet he was reckoned rather a small 
one ! 

The Whalen natives were fine athletes, and I fre- 
quently saw them racing, wrestling, and even boxing 
with an old set of gloves which they had obtained from 
a whaler. The women also had a game which resembled 
" tossing in a blanket " (a walrus hide being substituted, 
for the latter), and the one who attained the greatest 
height was proclaimed the winner, and kissed by the 
chief — a ceremony which here consists of rubbing noses 
while murmuring " Oo." Once there was a " walrus 
dance " in one of the huts, when both sexes appeared 
in a state of nudity, wearing only sealskin moccasins. 
This weird entertainment was preceded by the beating 
of sealskin drums, after which two naked women, sitting 
astride, were carried in on a long plank, upon which 
they performed a series of contortions somewhat resem- 
bling the Dance du Ventre. Relays of girls continued 
this exercise until exhausted by their efforts, when 
flesh cut from the newly captured walrus was handed 
round, to be washed down with copious draughts of 
" tanglefoot." It was then time to beat a hasty 
retreat and conceal myself until the next day, by which 
time most of the revellers had regained their sobriety 
and composure. 

It was, of course, an interesting experience, but, as 
the reader may imagine, I was not sorry when, one 
bright summer morning, the American revenue cutter 
Thetis anchored off Whalen, and my second enforced 
residence of over a month amongst the Siberian 
Tchuktchis was safely brought to an end ! 



CHAPTER XVI 

KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA AN EVENING WITH A 

NIHILIST 

European Russia possesses almost as many varieties 
of climate as her gigantic neighbour, Siberia, and every 
mile you go south, from Petrograd or Moscow, the more 
attractive the country becomes, especially to those 
easily elated or depressed by immediate surroundings. 
For Northern Russia is, even in summer, a land of grey 
days and gloomy landscapes, whereas down south blue 
skies and brilliant sunshine, verdure and flowers, impart 
a welcome warmth and gaiety to both nature and 
humanity. A native of the Crimea is, therefore, usually 
more genial and attractive than an inhabitant of, say. 
Archangel, just as a Neapolitan's mental outlook is, 
generally, more cheerful than that of a Swede. 

The belt of rich black soil known as the " Ukraine " ^ 
(which extends across Russia from the Austrian frontier 
to the Asian Steppes), divides these two zones, and 
Little Russia's chief town is Kieff, which flourished 
before even Moscow sprang into existence as a settlement 
of log huts. The former was, therefore, the first Muscovite 
capital, and it now enjoys the anomalous distinction 
of being not only the most ancient, but also most modern 
city in the empire, with imposing stone buildings and 
broad, crowded thoroughfares, which present a business- 
like, up-to-date aspect, more suggestive of some pros- 
perous town in the Western States of America than a 
holy place of pilgrimage, to which thousands of the 
orthodox faith annually resort for healing, fasting and 
prayer. There are, therefore, hundreds of churches 
here, besides monasteries, convents and other sacred 

1 The wonderfully fertile nature of this soil is ascribed to the slow 
decay of the grass, many centuries old, of the steppes. 

167 



168 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

buildings, which, however, are all so scattered as to 
attract little attention, and the visitor's first impression 
of Kieff is that of a commercial, yet fashionable, centre, 
well provided, for those who can afford them, with every 
comfort and pleasure in life. Petrograd, notwithstand- 
ing its hidden life of extravagance and dissipation, is 
dull and commonplace ; Moscow is saddened by associa- 
tion with mediaeval crime and calamities; but Kieff 
possesses all the charm and few of the disadvantages 
of other Russian towns, which, in the provinces, are so 
exactly alike, that one is outwardly typical of them all. 
There is always a Governor's Palace — in various stages 
of splendour or decay — any number of churches, a dilapi- 
dated and generally empty theatre, military barracks, a 
" Gostimoi-Dvor " and a prison, with a space of ground 
called (by courtesy) a public garden. Kieff, however, 
is not only essentially original, but is also the healthiest 
place in Russia, owing to the bracing air of the steppes, 
and scrupulous cleanliness of the city, which extends for 
nearly ten miles along the right bank of the broad, 
swiftly-flowing Dnieper. 

The place contains about 500,000 inhabitants, and 
comprises four distinct districts, which may almost be 
called separate towns. Podol, the commercial quarter, 
skirts the river, and above it, on a steep declivity, is 
Lipti, the residential quarter, and an enchanting 
spot in summer, with its handsome villas, embowered 
in dark, luxuriant foliage. North of this is Kieff 
proper, which contains the University and Cathedral of 
Saint-Sophia, a building erected in the eleventh century, 
but so constantly repaired and added to, that it is now 
a huge and towering structure with over a dozen large 
golden domes. Here also are the theatres, best hotels, 
and shops, which latter are quite as modern and well- 
found as those of Petrograd or Moscow. Petchersk, 
the fourth district, is well worth seeing, for it is honey- 
combed with caves and catacombs which, in olden days, 
were used as places of refuge and monastic cells, and 
where, during holy festivals, one can scarcely move 
through the dense crowds of pilgrims, of whom 300,000 
annually visit this ancient and revered monastery. The 
" Lavra," as it is called, contains the embalmed remains 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 169 

of over a hundred saints, one being that of a holy per- 
sonage who hved for fifteen years buried up to his neck 
in the ground, from which his head may still be seen 
protruding. The latter is said to sink a little lower into 
the soil every century, and a monk gravely informed me 
that the day of judgment would simultaneously occur 
with its entire disappearance ! The " Lavra " covers 
an enormous extent of ground, and you may wander for 
days through its interminable streets, alleys and court- 
yards—in one of which latter, beggars are always clustered 
around the ever-open door of a church, in the dim recesses 
of which wax tapers shed their mellow light, through a 
haze of incense, on faded tapestries and jewelled images 
of saints. The citadel once stood near here, but its 
site is now occupied by a modern arsenal, whence there 
is a fine view of the surrounding country, while, at night, 
a great cross on the statue of Saint Vladimir, is lit by 
electricity, and shines, at night, over many miles of 
surrounding country. 

Although the cathedral and churches of Kieff are en- 
dowed with less wealth than those of Moscow, the former 
contain many valuable pictures and works of art, notabhT" 
the sanctuary doors of the Ouspensky Church, which 
are of solid silver and exquisite workmanship. Kieff 
is rightly described as " Holy," for early in the tenth 
century Prince Vladimir forcibly converted its people 
to Christianity by baptism in the Dnieper, and built 
many of the churches which the place contained a 
hundred years later. These were, however, pillaged 
and destroyed when the town was seized by the Tartars 
in the thirteenth century, being eventually retaken from 
them by a Grand Duke of Lithuania, who, in 1386, 
added Kieff to the kingdom of Poland. It was not, 
however, until 1686 that, after a protracted and des- 
perate struggle, the city was finally ceded to Muscovy, 
together with the rich provinces of Little Russia, Podolia 
and Volhynia. 

Pilgrims of all classes flock here at certain seasons 
of the year from all parts of Russia and even Siberia, 
many suffering from incurable diseases, for Kieff is as 
renowned for its marvellous cures as Lourdes in France. 
Some people come merely to pray, often for the further- 



170 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

ance of some special object, and these when wealthy, 
generally leave thousands of roubles in aid of charities 
when they depart ; ^ while the poor peasant, who cannot 
afford a ticket to the Holy Land, visits Kieff instead, 
in the firm belief that his soul will derive as much 
spiritual benefit as from the longer and more expensive 
journey. 

The exhilarating, open-air life here reminded me of 
Paris, especially in the spring-time when parks and 
gardens were a mass of flowers, bunches of which were 
sold in the streets for as many kopecks as they would 
have cost roubles in Petrograd. There were also leafy 
boulevards, where one could sit in a cafe and drink 
hock amongst men who appeared less preoccupied and 
women who looked gayer and prettier than those of 
other Russian towns, perhaps because of pure air and 
clear sunshine. And the evenings were equally enjoy- 
able, when a theatre or music-hall generally preceded a 
stroll through the starlit streets, or supper al fresco in 
some public garden, under electric light, with a "tzigane " 
band as an accompaniment. These places were always 
amusing, for Kieff is a favourite meeting-place of every 
variety of the Russian race — Poles, Ruthenians, Cau- 
casians and Jews; while, before the war, even wealthy 
Rumanians were lured here, certainly less by religious 
motives than business, or some other less serious 
and profitable object. 

Yet this is by no means solely a city of pleasure, 
although its industries are mostly agricultural, and the 
atmosphere is therefore unpolluted by factory smoke. 
Kieff's commercial prosperity is chiefly due to the culti- 
vation of beetroot (for it is the centre of the sugar 
industry in Russia), and is therefore the resort, in spring- 
time, of a host of refiners, who come here to sign con- 
tracts with the growers, and also enjoy themselves en 
gar con, or with their wives and families. The town 
then becomes so crowded that hotels raise their prices, 
and for about a month there is a ceaseless round of 
amusements and gaiety. 

It has been suggested, since the outbreak of the war, 

1 One monastery alone is said to have an annual revenue of many 
million roubles. 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 171 

that Kieff would make an admirable capital from every 
point of view, and it is within the bounds of possibility 
that, when Russia annexes Constantinople (which in 
the ordinary course of events, she must surely do), the 
greater part of her trade and industries will be trans- 
ferred to the southern provinces, thus relegating Petro- 
grad and Moscow, commercially speaking, to a secondary 
position in the Empire. This, at any rate, was the 
opinion of an influential merchant whom I met here, 
and I quote it for what it is worth. He added 
that such a change would be popular, if only because 
this is a purely Slav city, which, unlike Petrograd, 
has never been tainted by Teutonic influence and 
customs. 

Being desirous of seeing Little Russia at its best, I 
drove, in summer, from here to Kharkoff in a " taran- 
tass," a vehicle drawn by three horses yoked abreast. 
The middle one bears a high-arched wooden yoke, or 
" duga," with jangling bells, and advances at a rapid 
trot, while the horses on either side gallop, with heads 
turned outwards, at such a sharp angle that they fre- 
quently blunder into the ditch, whence, however, they 
generally quickly extricate themselves without stopping 
the team. But I have noticed that Russian horses seem 
endowed with super-equine intelligence, and when in a 
difficulty never plunge and struggle, but lie absolutely 
motionless until help arrives. And they scarcely ever 
shy, this being perhaps due to the fact that they wear no 
blinkers and can therefore see all that is going on around 
them. 

I have seldom enjoyed a journey more than this one 
through the Ukraine, ^ which is, in every respect, a plea- 
sant contrast to the bleak and cheerless northern 
provinces. Little Russia is, of course, the most fertile 
region on earth, but so are parts of Siberia, and I -,*as 
here less impressed by the richness of the soil and 
prosperity of the peasantry, than the attractive appear- 
ance not only of the people but also of their villages — now 
no longer surrounded by dreary plain and pine forest, 

^ The name " Little Russia " originated in the fourteenth century 
to distinguish this region from " Greater Russia," which lies to the 
north. Russians generally call the former the " Ukraine." 



172 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

but by fields of golden corn and rich pastures, where 
sleek cattle browsed in the shade of oak and chestnut 
trees. The houses were built, not of wood, but plaited 
wicker-work plastered with clay and surmounted by a 
neatly-thatched roof, and their walls, which were either 
whitewashed or of a light rose or green colour, were 
in cheerful contrast to the sombre, weather-bleached 
buildings of Greater Russia. And yet the former are 
more cheaply and rapidly erected, many portions, such 
as the roof, window-frames, door-posts, etc., being kept 
ready for sale at the nearest " Gostinnoi-Dvor," or 
bazaar. And even the humblest dwelling has its care- 
fully tended garden, where the sunflower always pre- 
dominates, for it is cultivated here on account of its 
seeds, which are consumed in huge quantities by people 
of all classes from Kieff to the Black Sea. And I passed 
my first night in no grimy post-house, but a clean, sweet- 
smelling cottage, with lattice windows overlooking an 
orchard gay with pear and apple-blossom; while my 
evening meal was served, not on greasy oil-skin, but a 
spotless linen tablecloth, with (wonderful to relate) no 
crawling " Tarakans " to mar its snowy surface. More- 
over, I slept in soft sheets, a luxury which I had never 
previously enjoyed throughout many thousand miles of 
travel in Russian rural districts. 

The Malo-Russians ^ are largely interbred with the 
Polish race, and it is probably from the latter that they 
derive their love of art and pleasure and a partiality 
for cheerful surroundings. The " Great " Russian is 
generally careless and slovenly as to his dress, but his 
southern neighbour loves bright colours and fantastic 
costumes, and devotes as much attention to his personal 
appearance as to his garden, which says a great deal. 
Thus, on this occasion, my host's pretty wife (who 
looked sixteen, but had six children) wore the picturesque 
national dress — a white, delicately-embroidered bodice, 
short grey shirt and turquoise-velvet " kakoshnik," 
which set off her soft brown hair, while the owner's 
diminutive feet would certainly have aroused admiration 
in Bond Street or on the boulevards. 

The moujik of the north is bearded like the pard, 
^ Malo-Russia, " Little Russia." 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 173 

but men here, as a rule, wear only a moustache, and 
a century ago shaved even their heads like the Tartars, 
leaving only a long lock over the forehead. Natives of 
the " Ukraine " were, therefore, formerly called " Tufts " 
by the " Greater Russians," the latter being termed 
" Goats " (on account of their hirsute appearance), in 
retaliation! I also noticed that the " Malo-Russians " 
are less subservient than those of other districts, rarely 
addressing one as " Beloved one," " Little Father," 
" Sweet Pigeon," and other extravagant terms which 
are lavished on even a humble stranger in other parts of 
Russia. For the Malo-Russian formerly acknowledged 
but one master — the Tsar, and therefore greeted every 
one else, except officials of the highest rank, simply as 
" Barin " or " Sir." 

I lingered on the road for nearly a week between 
Kieff and Kharkoff, for this is truly a land not only of 
m.usic and song, but " with milk and honey blest." 
Everything grows in abundance, grain of all kinds, 
tobacco, and especially fruit ; for the tiniest cottage has 
its orchard, the produce of which is generally sent to 
Kieff, which is justly famed for its jams and preserves. 
And, from first to last, I drove over excellent roads 
through a panorama of verdant hills and dales, park- 
like grazing-lands and clear, rapid streams, alternating 
so frequently with stretches of dark forest, or belts of 
lighter woodland, as to dispel any semblance of mono- 
tony. And every day we passed bands of gypsies, 
camping by the wayside, and causing as much anxiety, 
with regard to the security of village poultry-yards, as 
they do in the English shires. Most of these " tsi- 
ganes " were Rumanians, working as tinkers, basket- 
makers, or musicians. And many of the latter, who have 
achieved fame in Parisian restaurants and cafes, have 
drifted there from Wallachia, notably one wanderTJig 
and swarthy artist who eventually married a well-known 
Belgian princess. It is only fair to add that here, as 
elsewhere in Europe, the gypsies are mostly honest, 
law-abiding people, who are eyed with distrust chiefly 
by reason of their wild, barbaric appearance. 

The heat in the day-time was rather oppressive, but 
sunset usually brought a cool, refreshing breeze from the 



174 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

Dnieper. And it was pleasant, on a still evening, to sit 
out in the gloaming and listen to the distant voices of 
women returning from the fields, as they joined in some 
sweet, plaintive air of Little Russia ; while, in the village 
street, men danced to the twanging lilt of a " balalaika," 
or played " landrail," a game in which two long lines 
are attached to a post driven into the ground. To 
the former are attached two blindfolded players, one of 
whom has a short club and the other hand-bell, which 
he occasionally rings to indicate his position, the dis- 
covery of which ensures him a sound drubbing from his 
antagonist. 

Dwellers in Petrograd or Moscow will tell you that 
the Malo-Russian is lazy and deceitful, and this may be 
partly true, but any minor defects these people may 
possess are certainly atoned for by their attractive 
social qualities. On the other hand, the toiler of the 
Ukraine is (unlike the northern moujik) no passionate 
lover of the soil, which he regards merely as a means of 
maintenance for his family, with the addition of a 
certain amount of amusement for himself, and his 
indolence is perhaps partly due to the fact that the land 
here is so fertile that these are easily obtained. The 
women, unlike the men, are thrifty and industrious, 
and, when not working on the land, are generally em- 
ployed in making embroideries (which have only of 
late years reached London and Paris) or weaving carpets, 
which, being not only artistic but cheap, find their way 
to all parts of Russia. Good looks prevail to an unusual 
extent amongst the fair sex, who are not renowned for 
their virtue, marital infidelity being of common occur- 
rence. Some writers ascribe this laxity of morals to 
lack of religion; for both sexes, although nominally of 
the orthodox faith, evince so little interest in spiritual 
matters that this is about the only district in the Empire 
where there are few, if any, sectarians. 

The Malo-Russian' s chief defect is lack of humour, 
for his dreamy, sensuous riature seeks refined and artistic 
pleasures rather than the insidious but sordid joys of 
" vodka " and the " traktir." He is, however, no fool, 
and as shrewd as any one else at driving a bargain, 
although sadly improvident, having for centuries past 




A TCHUKTCHI GIRL FEEDING THE DOGS 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 175 

made no attempt to guard against the droughts which 
occasionally devastate this district, fortunately without 
any permanent ill-effects. During their continuance, 
however, Little Russia is anything but " the blest," for 
the earth is then parched and rent with enormous fissures, 
and not a drop of water is procurable for man or beast. 
Even the Dnieper is then reduced to the dimensions of 
a narrow, sluggish stream, and although artesian wells 
and other modern appliances would modify this evil, 
their adoption never seems to have occurred to the 
careless, self-indulgent Malo-Russian, who, being a spoilt 
child of nature, never realizes that the latter can occa- 
sionally become a harsh and even cruel mother. The 
swarms of locusts which, at certain seasons, ravage the 
crops are almost as destructive, but these are of course 
unavoidable, and the same may be said for the spring 
floods, which occasionally lay waste large tracts of culti- 
vated land. 

I have sometimes travelled for weeks through the 
wilds of Siberia without setting eyes on fur or feather ; 
but the Ukraine and steppes team with animal life, 
wolves being so numerous that nearly every dwelling 
is surrounded by a thick thorn-hedge, ten or twelve 
feet in height, as a protection at night-time. Every 
household is also guarded by a number of dogs, which, 
as they occasionally interbreed with the wolves, are 
unusually wild and savage. The former are never kept 
in-doors, or even fed by their owners, and therefore have 
to find their own victuals, often being reduced to fruit and 
grapes, which I have seen them devour with apparently 
as much relish as a piece of butcher's meat. The fields 
of Little Russia swarm with mice, which sometimes play 
havoc with the crops ; but the most curious animal I 
saw was the " Suslik," which is less common here than 
in the Asian Steppes, or Mongolian Desert of Gobi, where 
I encountered thousands. The " Suslik," which is 
something between a squirrel and a marmot, is very 
hard to catch, but its burrow has always two entrances, 
and Malo-Russians secure the little beasts by pouring 
water in at one end, and seizing them as they emerge 
from the other ; for the fur is soft and delicate, and 
fetches a good price in Kieff, where it is used as a lining 



176 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

for ladies' evening cloaks. There is also any amount 
of game here in the shape of sand-grouse, duck, teal, 
widgeon and snipe, hares and rabbits, which (as elsewhere 
in Russia) are rarely shot at by local sportsmen, and 
therefore easily obtainable. 

Summer here is very enjoyable, but the " Ukraine " 
is at its best in May ; when nature is awakening from her 
long winter sleep, the woods and meadows are ablaze 
with lilac and laburnum, and violets, daffodils and 
daisies peep out of the long grass, which for months has 
lain under a heavy blanket of snow. The first two or 
three days of warmth and sunshine produce a rapid and 
luxuriant growth of trees, grass and flowers which is 
elsewhere unknown, and it is only here that you can 
truly appreciate the delights of spring-time, which 
in other countries are generally so overrated. And, 
later on in the season, the evenings, when the long grey 
twilight is succeeded by only a few starlight hours, have 
a charm all their own, although the " white nights " 
of August, when sunset and sunrise are so imperceptibly 
merged that there is no real darkness, can only be 
enjoyed much farther north. 

Kharkoff is a university town which entirely lacks 
natural beauties or archaeological interest, for it is a 
comparatively modern place which only dates from the 
seventeenth century. It is also much behind the times, 
especially with regard to hotels, and although I expected 
to find in a place of this size a bed and washing appli- 
ances, the former had no sheets or pillows, and the latter 
consisted of the little brass tap let into the wall, which I 
had hitherto imagined was peculiar to Siberia. Kharkoff 
was, in short, so dull and unattractive that my stay 
there would have been very brief, had I not promised 
a political exile to deliver a letter to his brother who 
resided in the town. The writer of the missive had just 
served a sentence of ten years in the Nertchinsk silver- 
mines when I met him, living under police supervision, 
at a village in Eastern Siberia. His offence had there- 
fore been a serious one, and his younger brother (whom 
I will call Serge Androvitch) had heard nothing of the 
exile since his banishment. Knowing, however, by 
experience that association with even the relatives of a 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 177 

political prisoner in Russia is apt to be dangerous, I 
waited until after dark before calling upon Androvitch, 
who was employed as a minor Government official, and 
occupied, in a squalid suburb, a small, poorly-furnished 
flat. And its owner seemed fully prepared for my 
arrival, which, having some knowledge of the secret and 
rapid mode of communication between revolutionaries 
of all countries, scarcely surprised me. I once heard 
of the suicide of an exile whom I had met years before 
in Sredni-Kolymsk ^ from a friend of the latter living 
in Soho, although how the latter received the news has 
ever since remained a mystery. 

Androvitch, who greeted me cordially, at once gave 
me to understand that he was working for " the 
cause " in conjunction with a young lady who shared 
his apartment, and who I therefore assumed was either 
his wife or sister. But I was then unacquainted with 
the domestic methods of the Russian Nihilist, or rather 
" Socialist," for the former term is never used in revo- 
lutionary circles, the members of which prefer to style 
themselves the " Intelligentia." And I learnt, during 
the course of the evening, that there were numberless 
secret societies in Russia varying from those composed 
solely of Terrorists to others as harmless as the " Prim- 
rose League," although even the latter were eyed askance 
by the Secret Police. Serge, therefore, spoke with 
reverential awe of his brother, who had belonged to 
the former category, while my host modestly owned 
that he was only a humble disciple in the great scheme of 
social regeneration. 

Both Androvitch and his mysterious friend proved 
interesting companions, with whom I freely discussed 
topics the mere mention of which would, in any public 
place, have entailed our immediate arrest and probably 
severe punishment. Kharkoff, they told me, wac an 
important base of operations, and two or three important 
leaders generally resided there, while many of Serge's 
friends had been exiled for political offences which 
this beardless youth proceeded to defend and justify 
with all the assurance of an experienced man of the 
world, although the united ages of the girl and himself 

^ See chap. xiii. 

N 



178 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

cannot have exceeded forty years ! But I had when in 
Siberia frequently noticed the juvenile appearance of 
most of the exiles. Men and women, banished for 
political crimes, were generally middle-aged and even 
elderly; but the majority looked like mere boys and 
girls, more fitted for the playground than a political 
conspiracy. For in Russia mere children occasionally 
get bitten with a mania to "go out among the people," 
or, in other words, to disseminate revolutionary views 
amongst the lower orders. And thousands of young 
people of the better class are lured into the Socialistic 
net by old and experienced agitators, who are actuated 
solely by mercenary motives, and who themselves 
keep safely in the background. 

I There is little doubt, however, that Russian youth 
■ is more precocious than that of any other country. 
Mr. R. Reynolds,^ for instance, mentions the case of 
a boy of fourteen from Petrograd, whom he met at a 
French watering-place, and who was about to write a 
play dealing with the Paris of Louis XIV., the characters 
of which were all either reprobates or courtesans. " The 
three of us supped " (writes Mr. Reynolds) " in a 
restaurant, and ' Shura ' (the lad in question) laid down 
the law on politics, religion and the problems of life 
with amazing assurance. He told us he was not called 
upon to take an active part in politics, but that he should, 
when invited to do so, ' support the Socialists.' . . . 
' But, you see,' he explained, ' life holds only three 
things worth troubling about : Eating, drinking and 
making love to pretty women ! ' 

" This engaging youth then departed, remarking that 
his father would be annoyed if he stayed out later than 
2 a.m. He also informed us that, at the age of twenty- 
five, he intended to shoot himself, as life after that would 
not be worth living ! " 

The same author relates that a deputation of school- 
children once visited the Petrograd Rus, a liberal paper, 
and requested the editor to publish their views on social 
reform — one of their suggestions being the substitution 
of " free love " for the marriage ceremony ! 

Serge Androvitch belonged to a type of youth of whom 
^ My Russian Year, by R. Reynolds. 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 179 

I had met many in Siberia, and whose conversation was 
freely interlarded with revolutionary jargon, yet who, 
when invited to explain the practical aim and working 
of their secret mission in life, seemed to have the vaguest 
ideas as to how mankind was to be socially improved 
and regenerated. Thus Serge's views on the freedom of 
the people, liberty of the press, restriction of education 
and so forth, were expressed in a parrot-like manner 
which seemed to indicate that he was merely echoing 
phrases expressed by fluent orators at some revolutionary 
meeting; for when my young friend became natural 
his remarks were devoid of all originality, clearness, or 
depth of thought. But a fairly long and varied experi- 
ence has shown me that Socialism, in Russia, is in many 
cases taken up by young and impulsive people as a 
fad, rendered irresistibly attractive by reason of its 
atmosphere of romance, personal risk, and especially 
the chance of notoriety, which always appeals to the 
vain and immature mind, and which is probably re- 
sponsible for the crimes of violence which here invariably 
follow the assassination (or execution as it is called) 
of some distinguished personage. 

The revolutionary youth of both sexes in Russia are 
easily recognized, for the men affect an eccentric style 
of dress, wear their hair very long, and are rather chary 
of soap and water; while even young and attractive 
women cut off their luxuriant tresses and display an 
utter indifference as to their personal appearance. Serge 
had, on this occasion, discarded his official uniform for a 
shabby velveteen jacket and flowing red tie; while the 
girl's ill-fitting, rusty black gown and closely-cropped 
head detracted from what would otherwise have been a 
comely face and slim, graceful figure. Liouba had, it 
appeared, only met Serge a few weeks previously, and 
I was assured by the latter, without a trace of embarj:ass- 
ment, that their relations were purely platonic. And 
this was probably true, for in the revolutionary world 
a couple often elect to live together under conditions 
entirely dissociated with anything approaching love or 
sensuality. Young people of this category regard them- 
selves and are regarded merely as sexless fellow- workers, 
in whose relations the heart and emotions play no part, 



/ 



/ 



180 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

and as most of the women of this class, with whom I 
have come in contact, have been what Americans call 
" homely," this fact is perhaps less strange than it might 
otherwise appear. Moreover, in Russia, a man's con- 
stant association with a woman of his acquaintance in 
any class of life, even if she be married and beautiful, 
creates no scandal, as it would in other countries, for 
the bond between them may, and frequently does, arise 
from a purely intellectual affinity. And so it is when 
students of opposite sex, living in a university town, 
agree to live together, for the simple reason that mutual 
interests and objects in life have brought them together 
as intimate friends, and nothing more. And this was the 
case with my host and his companion, who was a medical 
student at Kharkoff University. And the latter herself 
informed me that it was customary for girls who " go 
out among the people," to choose a male partner to- 
wards whom they were absolutely cold and indifferent 
from a sexual point of view, but whom they thought 
might prove useful as a collaborator in the difficult and 
dangerous task which they had sworn to perform. 
Occasionally, she added, but very rarely, they married 
in the end, but that otherwise, if the man attempted to 
overstep the pi atonic barrier, separation was almost 
invariably the immediate result. 

My experience of these loveless and sterile unions was 
limited to Kharkoff ; but, on the other hand, I could quote 
many instances of almost sublime self-sacrifice on the part 
of revolutionary women whose male " comrades " have 
fallen into the hands of the police. Official statistics 
show that hundreds of them annually, and of their 
own free will, accompany not only their husbands, but 
lovers, to Siberia; a notable instance, in the latter 
case, being that of Baroness Rehbinder, who followed 
Dr. Weimar (the Empress-Dowager's physician) to the 
life-long banishment which he had to endure for the 
attempted assassination of a court official. 

Androvitch seemed less interested in his brother's 
health and welfare than the condition of the Siberian 
peasantry, amongst whom, as he was compelled to admit, 
the " propaganda " had fallen on very barren ground. 
The moujik, he declared, was an ungrateful mortal, who, 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 181 

notwithstanding all that had been done to ensure his 
freedom, had never evinced the slightest gratitude 
towards his would-be benefactors. My host related an 
incident in proof of this fact, and described how two 
peasants attended the execution of a famous Socialist 
leader, from whom the former had received many kind- 
nesses and favours. " He is to be hanged to-morrow 
morning," said one; "let us go to the execution." 
" Why," said the other, " you don't want to see the 
poor devil suffer?" "Oh! no," was the rejoinder; 
" but we might get a bit of the rope, and it brings good 
luck ! " " Is it worth our while," added Serge, " to 
endure imprisonment and exile, and even risk death, 
for such thankless dogs as these ? " And my obvious 
but unspoken, reply was, " Then, why do it ? " 

I may here mention that I have never, even in Siberia, 
heard political exiles of either sex display personal 
animosity towards the Emperor or any member of the 
Imperial Family, their enmity being chiefly directed 
against the system of government of which their 
Majesties form the figurehead. The " Tchin " or 
" Bureaucracy " seemed to be the object of their special 
detestation, and next to it the priesthood, many members 
of both these professions having during the past few 
years been " removed " to the next world by violent 
means. Serge, however, informed me that the Terror- 
ists in favour of assassination were now few in number 
and gradually dying out. It had, he said, been realized 
that political crime and bloodshed only impeded the 
cause of reform, and he added that the murders of the 
Grand Duke Serge, Trepoff, Stolypin and others had been 
strongly condemned by the more influential leaders of 
his party. 

Neither Androvitch nor his pretty little friend pro- 
fessed the " orthodox " or any other faith, for in nine 
cases out of ten the Russian Socialist is also an atheist. 
Liouba was a delicate, frail -looking creature, with pale 
pathetic features and wonderful dark eyes, which flashed 
with indignation when she informed me that, only 
the week before, a young student and his girl-friend 
had been sold by a " comrade " and lodged in the city 
gaol. The girl declared, however, that the possibility 



/< 



182 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

of such a fate did not worry her in the least, or 
even the fear of death itself, provided she were not 
incarcerated in the fortress of Schliisselburg, the most 
dreaded place of confinement in Russia ; for those con- 
signed there are lost for ever to the outer world. ^ But 
Liouba's equanimity with regard to an enforced residence 
in the generally dreaded land of exile was, perhaps, 
inspired by a letter which she had just received from a 
friend who had been deported to a town in the province 
of Yakutsk, and which I was permitted to read. 

" Doushka,"^ it ran, " do not fret about me, for I was 
never happier in my life. It is rather dull here, of 
course, after Kieff ; but exile has at any rate released me 
from a husband who has, for some time past, bored me 
to extinction with his intolerable jealousy and stinginess. 
Here, however, I have found some old friends, and 
received nothing but kindness from even new acquaint- 
ances, and, although the days are rather dreary, our 
evenings are enlivened by music, dancing and theatricals. 
I never knew what domestic freedom really meant until 
I came here ! " 

Toward midnight I rose to depart, but my companions 
insisted on my first sharing their frugal supper, for 
Russian revolutionaries have apparently the same par- 
tiality for late hours as their more lawful compatriots. 
And as Androvitch prepared the meal, Liouba pro- 
duced a " balalaika " and in a clear, sympathetic voice 
sang a melody well known on the Volga river, near which 
she had passed her childhood. But the singer was con- 
tinually interrupted by Serge, who, even while laying the 
table, continued to execrate the evils of autocracy and 
tyranny of kings. " We want a wider horizon," he kept 
repeating. " We are now deaf and dumb ! We must 
have education for the people, and absolute freedom for 
all ! " And I could almost hear the wild-eyed, dishevelled 
orator who had not only instilled my hospitable 
friend with his seditious principles, but taught him the 

^ This, by the way, is the only Russian prison which I was not 
authorized to visit, although it was described to me at Sredni-Kolymsk 
by Madame Akimova, who had awaited trial for four months within 
its gloomy walls. 

^ Darling. 



KIEFF AND LITTLE RUSSIA 183 

appropTiate gestures wherewith to express them. For 
Serge, as an original exponent of Socialistic doctrines, 
was a dismal failure. 

The life of a Russian Revolutionary, of whatever class, 
must be one of perpetual anxiety, and his incessant 
dread of the police was indicated, on this occasion, by a 
trivial incident which occurred soon after we sat down to 
supper. While Serge was relating, in a loud and excited 
tone, certain facts concerning the assassination of M. 
Stol^pin, there came a resounding knock at the door, 
which startled me almost as much as my host, for I 
knew the unpleasant consequences which might follow 
my rather imprudent visit. Nor was I reassured by the 
nervous agitation displayed by my companions, who sat 
staring blankly at each other, evidently in expectation 
of the dreaded command to " open in the name of the 
Tsar." It was, therefore, with much relief that I saw 
my host's pale and anxious face relapse into a sickly 
smile at the sound of a familiar voice, and the next 
moment the door was unbarred to admit an intimate 
friend and student at the University. The newcomer 
was, it appeared, also a " comrade," who, while Liouba 
brewed fresh tea, entertained us with the account of 
an apparently fruitless mission from which he had just 
returned in the service of " the cause." Needless to say 
my farewell was indefinitely postponed by the new 
arrival, and it was only by the grey light of dawn that, 
just before parting, we solemnly arose, and stood round 
the table to sing, almost in a whisper, a pathetic melody 
in minor, which, although strictly prohibited in European 
Russia, is sung without hindrance by the political exiles 
in Siberia. 1 

But everything in this chapter pertaining to the 
revolutionary movement should be written in the past 
tense, for anarchy, in Russia, is now as dead as the 
proverbial doornail, and Serge Androvitch is fighting 
bravely for the National Cause, instead of the Empire, 
which he once so ardently desired to overthrow. 

^ This prison-song has been translated and published by the author, 
and may be obtained at Messrs. Weekes & Co., Music Publishers, 
Hanover Square, W. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE CRIMEA THE INTERIOR 

" If that place belonged to us," observed an American 
tourist, as one bright summer's day we neared, from 
seaward, the harbour of Sevastopol ; " I guess we would 
make it the beauty-spot of Europe ! " " But," I re- 
plied, " the Crimea is that already," while sorely in- 
clined to add that its natural beauties would scarcely 
be enhanced by transatlantic turmoil, mammoth 
hotels, and surging crowds. For there scarcely exists, 
throughout the world, a more enchanting spot than 
this, which in England is generally less associated with 
a perfect climate and exquisite scenery than with the 
protracted but futile campaign which, half a century 
ago, laid waste its fertile provinces and fair white 
towns. " An emerald in a sea of sapphire ! " exclaimed 
my companion ; and the simile was really not exagger- 
ated when, on that occasion, I first beheld the lovely 
shores of Taurida, glittering in the sunshine under a 
sky of cloudless blue. 

No Russian need seek the French Riviera in winter, 
for he can always here find a nest of warmth and flowers, 
protected from the bleak north wind by the precipitous 
chain of mountains which screen the southern coast of 
the peninsula, which, by the way, is about the size of 
Sicily. 

The Crimea is always delightful, but I prefer it in 
winter, for in summer the heat is often oppressive, 
and I have known it 94°, (and even more), in the shade 
in August, although the nights were generally cool. 
Only October and November are damp and unhealthy, 
especially on the north-eastern coast, where chilly mists 
roll in from the " Putrid Sea," a shallow lagoon formed 
by a long sand spit in the Sea of Azov. Fever and ague 

184 



THE CRIMEA— THE INTERIOR 185 

are then prevalent, also rheumatic complaints, for which 
latter nature has provided a cheap remedy in the shape 
of the black mud which bubbles from a number of 
miniature volcanoes near the town of Kertch — and 
which apparently possesses wonderful curative powers. 
A Scotch merchant at Rostov-on-the-Don told me that 
he had vainly tried every imaginable remedy in England 
for neuritis, but had been instantly cured by the mud- 
baths of Kertch, the marvellous properties of which 
were known even to the Scythians who inhabited the 
Tauric peninsula ^ many years before Christ. 

Kertch is a dull and dismal town, although its situa- 
tion at the narrow inlet to the Sea of Azov invests 
it with considerable commercial importance. Nothing 
now remains of the old Tartar stronghold which has 
been converted into a modern and malodorous seaport, 
where, since the Crimean War, vast sums of money 
have been expended on the erection of fortifications 
which would stand no earthly chance against modern 
engines of destruction. On the day of my arrival a 
driving mist obscured the town, the narrow streets 
of which resembled rivers after a week of incessant 
rain, so having landed from the grimy little British 
collier which had brought me from Taganrog, I straight- 
way hired a carriage to convey me to Sevastopol, (with 
the accent on the penultimate), by way of Yalta, and 
the loveliest stretch of coast-line in the world. Kertch 
certainly contained an " hotel," but one of such appall- 
ing aspect that I preferred to return to the Tynemouth, 
and share a greasy steak and onions with her burly 
skipper, before setting out, later in the day, for 
Theodosia. 

There is a railway to the latter place from Kertch, 
but the line was now blocked, by an accident to a 
bridge, for a couple of days. Nevertheless, had I for 
a moment anticipated the discomfort of that two 
days' drive to Theodosia, I should certainly have 
awaited a resumption of traffic, or proceeded there on 
board the little Tynemouth, although the sea journey 

1 The Russian name " Taurida "' is derived from this, the Crimea 
having only been ceded to Russia by the Porte in 1784. " Crim " or 
Crimea is a Tartar name. 



186 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

was, the skipper averred, as unpleasant owing to fog 
and heavy weather as the one by post-road. Indeed, 
his summary of the situation coincided with that of 
the nigger when consulted on a choice of routes : " Which- 
ever road you travels, I guess you'll be d — d sorry you 
did not take the other ! " 

Yet even the Tynemouth^s stuffy saloon combined 
with dryness, warmth and food, would have been 
infinitely preferable to those interminable hours of 
wet, cold and hunger, through a country so shrouded 
in mist that we had to grope our way for quite a third 
of the journey. I could only procure a " telega," or 
country cart, where I reposed upon dirty straw, while 
although the vehicle was provided with a hood, the 
latter was so dilapidated that the rain poured through 
it like a sieve, until night fell, and the " troika " was 
as often in the ditch as out of it. Once we were hope- 
lessly lost for over an hour in the darkness, owing to 
the stupidity of my squat Tartar driver, whom I could 
not even curse with any sense of satisfaction, for he 
only spoke his own language. Fortunately I possessed 
a large scale-map, and eventually by the aid of this 
and a horn lantern we managed to stumble, like drowned 
rats, into a squalid hovel, where I gathered, by signs, 
that I must pass the night. It was now midnight, and 
we had been on the road ten hours, having covered in 
that time under twenty-five miles ! 

The " post-house " at Argin contained two rooms, 
or rather dens, the filth of which I have seldom seen 
equalled in a human habitation. One was occupied by 
an aged and unsavoury Tartar and his equally repul- 
sive wife, the other was for the use of guests ; and here 
I waited in the cold and darkness until a tallow dip was 
brought in to reveal the hideous squalor of the place, 
which contained only a narrow divan, evidently in- 
tended as a sleeping-place, although legions of vermin 
scurried gaily over its now threadbare and discoloured 
surface. A broken window was stuffed with bits of 
rag, and the open hearth contained only a little heap 
of cold, grey ashes. My heart sank as, soaked and 
shivering, I surveyed those once whitewashed walls, 
now glistening with filth and damp, while the rustle, 




TCHUKTCHI BOYS AT EAST CAPE (BERING STRAITS) 



THE CRIMEA— THE INTERIOR 187 

outside, of ever-falling rain was accompanied, indoors, 
by the monotonous drip, drip of water as it soaked 
here and there through the rickety roof. But, any- 
way, here I had to remain until daylight, inhaling an 
overpowering stench of sewage from an open cesspool 
just beneath the window, which suggested the possi- 
bility of typhoid as a climax to this charming journey. 
How I survived it without at least contracting pneu- 
monia remains a mystery, for the rain having soaked 
through my portmanteau, I was practically wet through 
for forty-eight hours. There was no food of any kind 
at Argin, but fortunately plenty of fuel ; and I sat before 
blazing pine-logs until dawn, sharing my only tin of 
sardines and some biscuits with my Tartar driver, 
whom I had not the heart to send in such weather to 
the stables. And, late the next night, I reached my 
destination, after just such a day as the previous one, 
although on this occasion monotony was dispelled by 
an upset caused by the breaking of an axle, luckily 
within reach of a village and forge. So much for the 
journey by post-road from Kertch to Theodosia, which 
I have described at some length in order that others 
may profit by my inexperience, and, if placed in similar 
circumstances, travel by rail or sea ! 

I contrived at Theodosia to procure a more com- 
fortable carriage and better team, also a Russian 
" yemstchik." And now I could afford to linger amidst 
such pleasant surroundings — for from here on to 
Sevastopol the journey was so enjoyable that I was 
able to recall its initial stages with much the same 
feelings as a man who awakens from nightmare in a 
comfortable bedroom. 

The scenery on leaving Theodosia was rather mono- 
tonous, for most of the Crimea north of the littoral 
range of mountains is composed of steppes resembling 
those of the mainland. In these northern districts 
Tartars are chiefly met with who differ essentially from 
those inhabiting the southern coast, the former being 
rough, but kindly, people, of the Mongohan type, 
mainly employed in the breeding of horses, sheep and 
cattle, while those on the littoral, having in other days 
freely interbred with the Greeks and Genoese, are more 



188 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

refined in appearance and manner, and also more in- 
dolent — probably by reason of a more sunny and 
enervating climate. Personally I preferred the Tartar 
of the plains, who, though rude and uncouth, was 
much franker in his dealings and more generous than 
those I afterwards met on the coast, where even any 
small attention had generally to be paid for. In the 
north, on the other hand, I was more than once the 
guest of Tartars who refused payment of any kind, 
but this never once occurred on the shores of the Black 
Sea. 

So leisurely was Ivan's rate of progression that we 
took three days to reach Karasou-Bazar, sleeping en 
route in tiny Tartar villages, which were few and far 
between, for the country here is very sparsely culti- 
vated. Yet we constantly passed ruins, tombs, tumuli 
and other indications that, thousands of years ago, 
this must have been a thickly populated region, with 
thriving cities and towns. It was now late in the 
summer, and the beneficial effect of the rains, which 
every spring render the land green and fertile, had 
worn away, and one gazed on every side on a parched 
and arid waste, the Northern Crimea being cursed with 
a lack of water, which, however, abounds on the coast. 
For although the peninsula has numerous rivers, these 
become in dry weather insignificant streams, or even 
rivulets, and there is no attempt at irrigation save by 
means of shallow pits dug by the Tartars and called 
" auts," which are practically useless. And yet, 
centuries ago, the Tauric peninsula exported huge 
quantities of corn to Greece and other countries, while 
now the Crimea has to depend chiefly upon Russia and 
Siberia for her supply of grain. 

On nearing Karasou-Bazar I passed what appeared 
to be a mass of modern fortifications, erected on the 
summit of a hill of considerable height, but on closer 
approach found, to my surprise, that the place merely 
consisted of chalk cliffs which had been fashioned by 
nature into the almost perfect semblance of a fortress. 
Karasou-Bazar was, after the Muscovite annexation, 
assigned by Catherine II. to the exclusive occupation 
of the Tartars, so that even to-day everything about 



THE CRIMEA— THE INTERIOR 189 

the place, from mosques and minarets to pariah dogs, 
savours of the Orient, and there is a general impression 
of hoarded wealth and open squalor about its dark, 
narrow streets, permeated with a typical Eastern odour 
of coarse perfume, roasting meat, wood-smoke and 
sewage. I had to leave the carriage outside the town 
and proceed on foot through narrow, tortuous streets, 
with raised and narrow footpaths, and huge stepping- 
stones placed at intervals, to afford a crossing when, 
during the heavy spring-rains, these malodorous alleys 
become foaming torrents. And I wandered for perhaps 
an hour through endless avenues of low, flat-roofed 
mud houses with windowless walls, with here and there 
an open gateway disclosing a small courtyard with its 
patch of verdure, shrubs and flowers, and generally a 
marble fountain plashing in their midst. But it was 
impossible to linger anywhere for long, for beggars, of 
both sexes, and loathsome exterior, swarmed around 
me in such crowds, that more than once I had to threaten 
them with a stick to escape from their clutches. 

There was, of course, no inn of any kind, and a 
glimpse of the native " caravanserai " was so unin- 
viting that I decided to lodge with a Tartar friend of 
Ivan's — a tobacco merchant, who, with no thought of 
remuneration, entertained me in a clean and com- 
fortable dwelling, which after my previous experience 
of native households came as an agreeable surprise. 
For it contained several rooms almost luxuriously 
furnished in Tartar fashion with soft and capacious 
red-velvet divans, walls hung with costly embroideries 
and Caucasian armour, and cool red tiles strewn with 
bearskins and small but exquisite rugs from Bokhara. 
There were, of course, neither tables nor chairs, so I 
had to sit on the floor while discussing my first decent 
meal a la Tartare, which commenced with onion soup, 
followed by trout, in rich yellow sauce, roast lamb, 
skewered " kababs," fried in grease, vegetable marrow 
stuffed with savoury herbs, and a variety of highly 
coloured, unwholesome cakes and sweetmeats. Crimean 
wine accompanied the repast, which concluded with 
" Beckmess," a syrup of sweet and sickly flavour made 
of fermented apples. Coffee, " narghilehs " and cigar- 



190 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

ettes were then handed round, before I sought my 
couch, where, it is perhaps needless to add, my slumbers 
were somewhat disturbed ! 

Crim-Tartars appear to regard appropriate hours for 
meals and repose with the same indifference as most 
other Eastern races, who generally sleep when they 
feel tired, and eat when they are hungrj'^. I was already 
aware of this Oriental idiosyncrasy, but was certainly 
somewhat startled when, the morning after the afore- 
said banquet, my host suddenly appeared in a weird 
white garment, to awaken me at 5 a.m., although I knew 
he was well aware that my departure was only fixed 
for midday. Yet this matutinal intruder placidly 
seated himself on my bed, (or rather divan), and, as he 
was unable to converse, continued to smilingly con- 
template my recumbent form for nearly an hour, before 
this trying ordeal was fortunately terminated by the 
entrance of Ivan. The latter then informed me that 
it is an old Tartar custom to visit guests at dawn in 
order to inquire whether they have slept well — a kindly 
attention which, if practised, say, in England, might 
conceivably result, under certain conditions, in grave 
bodily injury — ^to the host ! 

Notwithstanding the kindly aid and protection of 
the Empress Catherine, Karasou-Bazar is now com- 
mercially on the down grade, for there is no bazaar to 
speak of, and the various trades and industries are 
here scattered all over the town, whereas in more 
prosperous Eastern cities each has its own street or 
quarter. The place was once famed for its arms and 
cutlery, but the staple article of commerce now con- 
sists of lambskins, which are chiefly used to make the 
typical Astrakhan bonnet worn by the Cossacks, and 
numbers of them are therefore exported to Kertch and 
the districts of the Don. Perhaps the most novel and 
interesting sight here was the gipsies' quarter, which I 
stumbled upon by accident, and found these strange 
people living in little reed shanties, plastered with mud, 
or dark, narrow caverns roughly scooped out of the 
side of an adjoiiiing hill. Their occupants were scantily 
clad, repulsive -looking creatures, more suggestive of 
animals than human beings, while children of both 



THE CRIMEA— THE INTERIOR 191 

sexes almost in their teens were running about the place 
in a shameless state of nudity. I should add that these 
gipsies were descendants of some who had settled in 
Karasou-Bazar perhaps a century before, and had none 
of the wild and attractive characteristics peculiar to the 
Romany race — of which these appeared to be very 
degraded specimens. There were perhaps a hundred in 
all, who, so far as I could learn, were utterly destitute, 
subsisting on charity, theft, or the occasional sale of 
their female children, if young and pretty, to some 
opulent Tartar or dealer in human flesh. Although the 
Crim-Tartars are strict Mahometans their women ap- 
pear to enjoy much more freedom than in other Moslem 
countries. The " yashmak," for instance, is now seldom 
seen in the interior, and never on the coast — an innova- 
tion perhaps welcomed by the young, but certainly not 
by their elders, for, aided by this veil, a plain and middle- 
aged female, if only possessed of dark expressive eyes, 
could formerly attract as much masculine attention as 
the loveliest of her sex. And an Eastern woman's eyes 
are in public her sole attraction, for she is generally 
short in stature, always clothed in balloon-like garments 
that compel her to walk with a waddle. My host's 
twin daughters, slim, graceful girls, wore, when indoors, 
a rather becoming costume, consisting of a closely 
fitting heliotrope silk tunic, with wide skirts falling to 
the knees, loose thin muslin trousers secured round the 
ankles, and a little white-cloth fez, adorned with old 
golden coins; but when dressed for the street, they 
resembled animated bolsters, and presented an almost 
grotesque appearance. Both were good-natured, cheery 
little souls, devoid of shyness, who played the guitar, 
sang me Tartar love-songs, and, when we parted, pre- 
sented me with some dainty silk handkerchiefs of their 
own embroidering. Tara, the youngest, was like her 
father, intensely superstitious, wore all kinds of amulets 
and charms to avert the evil eye and other calamities, 
and when I expressed my admiration for a costly ring 
she wore, frowned mysteriously and laid a finger on her 
lip, for I had yet to learn that among these people any 
female article of jewellery has only to be praised by a 
male stranger to be immediately stolen or lost ! Nor 



192 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

must you openly approve of your host's horses and 
cattle, or they will inevitably die ! 

It is thirty miles from Karasou-Bazar to wSimpheropol, 
and at Souy, about midway, the country began to 
assume a less desolate appearance, while " Tchatir- 
Dagh," the highest peak in the maritime range, was 
here dimly discernible on the southern horizon. Nearing 
Simpheropol mud dwellings gave place to much more 
pretentious buildings, of European architecture, each 
with its smooth lawn and rose garden, embowered in 
oak and chestnut trees. And, from here onward, the 
scenery became, every day, more varied and picturesque, 
until I reached Yalta, that priceless gem of nature, 
which cannot be adequately described, and which must 
be seen to be fully appreciated. 

Simpheropol (pronounced like Sevastopol) ^ is essen- 
tially Russian, and therefore presents a striking con- 
trast to dirty, sleepy Karasou-Bazar, being now the 
capital of the Crimea, which was built, after the Russian 
accession, over the ruins of " Ak-Metchet," formerly 
an important city, under the Khans. There is still, 
of course, a Tartar quarter, but most of the town now 
consists of fine Government buildings, modern streets 
and boulevards, several churches and good shops; also 
a railway station, on the main line from Petrograd to 
Sevastopol. " Simpheropol " is derived from two Greek 
words signifying a " meeting-place," and was aptly 
named, judging from the cosmopolitan element it con- 
tained in the shape of Russians, Greeks, Rumanians, 
Turks, and especially Jews, who seemed to outnumber 
all the rest. There were several hotels, one with an 
excellent restaurant, where French cooking was very 
acceptable after my previous gastronomic experiences ; 
and the strains of a military band in some public gardens, 
the tooting of motor-horns, clattering of droshkies and 
other signs of European civilization set me wondering 
whether mouldy old Karasou-Bazar, with its mediaeval 
methods, filth and flies, could really only be a score of 

1 The pronunciation of many Russian towns entirely differs from 
their appearance in writing. Thus the city of " Orel," pronounced as 
it is written, would convey nothing to a Russian, who only knows it 
as " Areeol.** And there are many similar instances. 



THE CRIMEA-THE INTERIOR 193 

miles away ! But the market was the sight of the 
place, with its flower-bedecked stalls and great piles of 
superb grapes and peaches, plums and nectarines, any 
of which you could buy more than you could carry for 
half a rouble; while the delicious " karpouz," or water- 
melon, for which the Crimea is famous, was equally 
cheap. Here the vendors were chiefly Tartars ; and this 
and strings of camels, which continually delayed the 
traffic even in those spacious streets, were about the 
only Eastern touches about Simpheropol, which is, 
perhaps, more picturesque but otherwise quite as un- 
interesting as any third-class modern European town. 
A genial colonel of Cossacks, whom I met at the hotel, 
entreated me to ascend the " Tchatir-Dagh," which, the 
colonel explained, lay on my way to Yalta, and whence, 
he assured me, I should obtain the finest view in the 
world. This was clearly an opportunity not to be 
missed, and, although strongly averse to mountaineering 
in any shape, I promised my friend I would take his 
advice. 

My way to the coast now lay due south through 
a well -cultivated country, with villages as neat and 
prosperous -looking as those west of Simpheropol had 
been foul and poverty-stricken. Rows of fertile green 
pasture now separated yellow fields of corn and maize, 
nearly ready for the sickle, while the roadside was 
bordered by leafy orchards with trees weighed down by 
ripe, luscious fruit, Kilbouroun, approached by a stately 
avenue of poplars, was my first halt — a pretty little 
place composed of a double row of low, vine-treliised 
houses, surrounded by a cluster of low, green hills, one 
surmounted by a frowning Tartar fortress, which, in 
conjunction with a turquoise sky, clear sunshine and 
barbaric costumes, was irresistibly suggestive of a rustic 
scene from some comic opera ! It would have been quite 
in keeping if some peasants, drinking outside the village 
" traktir," had suddenly broken into a stage chorus. 

It was but an hour's drive from here to Buyuk Ankoi, 
where I slept in the hut of a Tartar who provides saddle- 
horses for the ascent of the mountain, the summit of 
which is about 5000 feet above sea-level. But the 
place was so cold and draughty, and fleas so numerous, 
o 



194 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

that I was glad to make a start at 3 a.m., in bright 
m.oonhght which, clearly revealing an apparently 
perpendicular peak, rendered me doubtful as to whether 
its ascent would prove as easy as the colonel had pre- 
dicted. I have always had a dread of height and any- 
thing approaching hazardous climbing, and can no more 
explain this failing than account for the fact that the 
presence of a rat in a room fills me with abject terror, 
although, when in the wilds, innumerable rodents must, 
from time to time, have crept over my unconscious 
body when asleep. And in the same way I have oc- 
casionally, when in remote places, been compelled to 
negotiate some giddy height simply because my objec- 
tive lay beyond it and there was no other way round. 
This occurred during my land journey from Paris to 
New York, when in the Verkoyansk mountains, (of 
Arctic Siberia), I had to clamber up an ice slope over- 
hanging a dizzy precipice of several thousand feet. In 
Switzerland it would have been a case of ropes and ice- 
axes ; but in those benighted regions I wore heavy iron 
horseshoes clamped to my feet ! and somehow got over, 
although to this day I do not know how I ever nego- 
tiated that ghastly passage, where a slip must have 
meant certain death. 

However, the ascent of Tchatir-Dagh proved easy 
enough, which is more than I can say for the gait of 
my diminutive steed, which came down with me twice 
while on smooth, level ground, although in steep, stony 
places he was as nimble as a goat. The ascent was at 
first very gradual, up an almost drivable road through 
a forest so dense and dark that my guide had to pre- 
cede me with a lantern. But we presently left the 
woods for an open space of wild, heather-grown moor- 
land, thickly strewn with huge granite boulders which 
rendered progress very difficult. Half-way up the 
mountain the sun rose, only to disclose a dense sea of 
mist on which we looked down as from an island ; but 
this was quickly dispelled, and on reaching the narrow 
pathway, hewn through solid rock, which leads to the 
summit, the day had become bright and cloudless and 
almost too warm to be pleasant. Here I dismounted, 
left my pony with the guide, and climbed alone up the 



THE CRIMEA-THE INTERIOR 195 

side of a cliff with a drop of a couple of thousand feet, 
which, however, was only seldom visible through the 
chinks in a wall of loose rocks and boulders. It was 
very tough work for about half an hour, owing to the 
loose stones which kept slipping away from under my 
feet, and also to steep limestone ledges, six to eight 
feet high, which, as I had no companion, were only 
scaled with some difficulty. But at last, at eight 
o'clock, I stood upon the summit to find that my 
military friend had not exaggerated, for seldom have 
I ever overlooked such a glorious expanse of land and 
sea as that which now lay stretched at my feet. Away 
to the north the barren steppes rolled away like an 
ocean to the sky-line, with only two little islets to break 
their dreary expanse; the yellow mosque, drab roofs 
and green courtyards of Karasou-Bazar, and the golden 
domes and green-roofed buildings of Simpheropol, the 
modernity of which was indicated, even at this distance, 
by a tiny cloud of steam rising from the railway station. 
One could distinguish, as though a line had been drawn, 
the arid northern plains from the fertile fields and 
valleys of the south; while, nearing the Black Sea, the 
rugged range, of which Tchatir-Dagh is the eastern 
extremity, formed a second and more substantial 
barrier, which seems to have been specially designed 
by nature to protect and shelter the narrow but ex- 
quisite strip of coast between Aloushta and Sevastopol. 
It is only a hundred miles in length, although you might 
travel ten thousand without finding its equal ! 

It was no easy job to descend alone, and some time 
elapsed before I could find my guide, who had strayed 
some distance away to feed the ponies on a steep and 
scanty patch of herbage further down the mountain. 
We then made a hasty meal off eggs and black bread, 
which I washed down with wine of the country, though 
my guide preferred " Bouza," a mawkish Tartar beverage 
made of millet, which he produced from a battered tin 
flask in his saddle-bags. 

On the downward journey I examined a curious cave, 
which, although I could scarcely crawl through the low, 
narrow entrance, is said to contain an endless succession 
of chambers which apparently penetrate into the very 



196 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

bowels of the earth. There were two of these huge 
caverns, the one I visited being appropriately named 
Foul-Kuba/ for the atmosphere resembled that of a 
charnel-house. This, however, was not surprising when 
I discovered, by the light of a candle, that the floor 
of the place was composed of a soft mass of human 
skulls and bones, the remains, as I afterwards dis- 
covered, of a force of Genoese invaders who were smoked 
to death here by the Tartars in the thirteenth century. 
This gruesome chamber led into a more spacious one 
quite eighty feet in circumference, and supported by 
stalactites which glittered brightly even in the rays of 
my feeble tallow dip. I then entered yet another and 
even larger hall, where, however, the air was so oppres- 
sive that I retraced my steps, although some years ago 
a French scientist advanced steadily for several hours 
without reaching the heart of this subterranean mystery. 

Buyuk-Ankoi was reached by midday, and here I 
found the man who had provided my horses greatly 
perturbed, one of his four-legged cripples having sud- 
denly been seized with staggers in the yard. I was 
about to suggest a very simple remedy when a lad ran 
out of the post-house with a couple of eggs, which his 
master eagerly snatched from his hand and proceeded 
to smash on the patient's forehead, violently rubbing 
the raw yolk into the poor brute's eyes and nostrils. 
This, some Tartars declare, is an infallible remedy for 
any equine complaint, which, however, on this occasion 
completely failed. 

An hour later we were on the road, and I sat down 
to supper the same night, after a pleasant but un- 
eventful drive, in a modern and garden-girt hotel, over- 
looking the sea, in the pretty coast town of Aloushta. 

^ Also known as " Byng-Bash," or the " Cave of a Thousand Heads.' ' 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE CRIMEA — THE COAST 

Two days are seldom alike while driving along the 
Crimean coast. For instance, you may sup one night 
off sour milk in some grimy Tartar hovel, stifled by wood 
smoke and devoured by fleas, and the next morning 
lunch off an omelette soufflee and " Aspic " of quails in 
the Hotel Splendide at Yalta, which is quite as luxurious, 
and rather more expensive, than the Hotel de Paris 
at Monte Carlo. This, indeed, was my own experience. 

But Yalta, that glittering Mecca of the Russian 
aristocracy, is some distance from Aloushta — a modern, 
but sleepj^ little place, bearing about the same relation 
to its fashionable neighbour as Saint-Raphael to Cannes 
or Nice. It is chiefly frequented in summer by trades- 
men and minor Government officials who come here 
with their families to bathe, fish, and otherwise amuse 
themselves without troubling their heads about the 
" upper-ten " at Yalta, where prices are, of course, 
beyond their means. And here I may remark, e7i passant, 
that snobbery is quite unknown in Russia, where people 
are generally content with their social surroundings, 
however commonplace and humble the latter may be. 

And those of limited income may well be satisfied with 
Aloushta, which is situated at the mouth of a picturesque 
gorge which here cleaves the mountain range from 
north to south, and which in hot weather affords a 
pleasant retreat under the shake of oak and chestnut 
trees, amidst wild flowers, fernery, and rippling brooks 
and waterfalls. The town has some historical interest, 
being surrounded by ruins where old Greek weapons, 
coins and other objects may still be found, while a 
dilapidated tower still remains of the formidable fortress 
which was erected here by the Emperor Justinian, as 
a defence against the Goths and Huns, 500 years B.C. 

197 



198 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

Many centuries later, Aloiishta became, under the 
Genoese, a place of mercantile importance, although it 
now contains only a few small shops where household 
and tourist necessaries are sold. There is a fine view 
from here of the " Tchatir-Dagh," which acts as a 
barometer, for when the peak is concealed by mist, 
rain is sure to follow, though this is a rare occurrence. 

But Aloushta is not a mere pleasure resort, its sheltered 
position and many mountain streams rendering it an 
idyllic spot for the cultivation of the grape, wherefore 
its vineyards are justh^ noted for their pure and delicate 
vintages. When in Russia I always drink Crimean 
wine, but had no idea, until I visited an estate near here, 
that the country produced so many varieties : still and 
sparkling, red and white. I should be afraid to say how 
many kinds I was pressed to sample by the hospitable 
proprietor, who, had I not finally and firmly declined to 
partake of more, would certainly have sent me back to 
my hotel in a most regrettable condition ! For he plied 
me with locally grown Burgundy, Bordeaux, Sauterne, 
hock, and even Tokay, all excellent of their kind, and of 
which the more matured fetched high prices in Petro- 
grad. The Aloushta vineyards covered over 3000 
acres, but were only a few of many scattered along the 
coast, where many little towns have their grape-cure, 
with a resident physician during the months of August 
and September. 

The culture of the Crimean vine was originally 
introduced by Prince Woronzoff, who, in the early part 
of the last century, was the first to appreciate and take 
advantage of the favourable climate and rich soil of the 
littoral, for the wine industry had previously only been 
attempted north of the Tauric Chain, in a bleak and un- 
protected position where it was doomed to be a failure. 
And this first speculation met with such success that the 
Prince then formed a company to cleanse and drain 
the coast towns, erect " casinos " and hotels, and con- 
vert the Crimean seaboard into a fashionable winter 
resort, a scheme which, as it was honoured with imperial 
patronage, speedily bore fruit. A century ago the south 
coast was a desert, whereas now it attracts people even 
from the remotest parts of Siberia. 



THE CRIMEA-THE COAST 199 

On leaving Aloushta, the broad and excellent road 
reaches a height of several hundred feet before descending 
again to Buyuk-Lambat, one of the loveliest spots on 
the coast, where we drove through avenues of leafy- 
chestnut trees with, on the one hand, the blue, sunlit 
sea, and on the other, a smiling panorama of pine 
forest, golden cornfields, and green vineyards, with 
here and there the red-roofed villa of some prosperous 
grape-grower peeping out of the vines. And behind 
the ever-enchanting landscape were always the moun- 
tains softened by haze and distance, with their wooded 
slopes and snowy limestone summits, which, however, 
attain no great height, save where the Ayug-Dagh, or 
" Peak of the Bear," towers 1000 feet above the rest. 
One might have been somewhere between Beaulieu 
and Menton but for the Eastern aspect of the villages 
with their flat-roofed mud huts, skin-clad Tartars, 
strings of camels, and little brown children who pursued 
us with bunches of wild roses and mimosa. The natives 
here are more demonstrative than those of the north, 
and generally gave us a smiling " Salaam — Aleikum," 
while all seemed happy and contented, as well they 
might in this land of eternal sunshine. 

At midday we reached Partenite, a pretty little 
village with a " Restaurant " by the sea, which was 
already occupied by a merry party from Yalta, for this 
is a favourite place for picnics. Several motor-cars 
had brought these guests, to be presently joined by 
friends who rowed ashore from a large steam-yacht in 
the harbour. And I sat down to breakfast in dusty 
tweeds amidst daintily-gowned women and well- 
groomed men, with some reluctance, until invited by 
one of the party to join them at coffee, for an English- 
man, in Russia, is ever welcome. And a pretty girl 
among them informed me that Partenite was once the 
residence of the Prince de Ligne, one of Catherine of 
Russia's numerous lovers, and herself showed me the 
walnut tree under which the Prince was wont to compose 
impassioned poems to his imperial mistress. 

From Partenite to Yalta the scenery, although ever 
beautiful, assumes a more artificial aspect, created by 
numberless private residences which have sprung up, 



200 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

within the past few years, around the famous watering- 
place. These are of all sorts and sizes, from the stately 
marble mansion of the millionaire, approached by gilded 
iron gates and a private road, to the wooden creeper-clad 
villa which, although less pretentious, suggests a pro- 
portionate outlay of wealth and atmosphere of luxury. 
Beyond Partenite there were some public gardens, a 
miniature edition of Kew, where I loitered so long that 
our destination was reached only after sunset. 

Yalta by night was not unlike Monte Carlo, although 
by daylight it is even more picturesque. There is the 
same impression of wealth, extravagance, and social 
unrest; of palatial "restaurants" and red-coated 
" tziganes " ; of shops bedecked with costly gems, ex- 
pensive flowers, and the latest Paris fashions; of clean 
white streets and gaily bordered lawns; but — there is 
no gambling — at any rate of the kind which attracts 
an ever-hopeful army of victims to the Devil's Garden, 
although the place is patronized, both in winter and 
summer, by very wealthy people, willing to pay the 
same enormous prices all the year round. I went to the 
best hotel, where an immaculately attired German 
manager eyed my travel-stained clothes askance, but 
apportioned me a luxurious apartment, furnished with 
a bath and every modern convenience. Fortunately I 
never travel without a dress suit, for nothing else was 
worn in the " Restaurant," where the women, although 
exquisitely gowned, had not changed their day costume 
— for in Yalta no lady wears evening dress except at a 
private house. There was, as usual in Russia, a pre- 
ponderance of military uniforms, and some gold-laced 
naval officers from Sevastopol, but surprisingly few of 
the demi-monde, which is generally so numerous in health 
and pleasure resorts. This element may be undesirable, 
but it certainly infuses an air of gaiety, which on this 
occasion was rather lacking; and therefore, having 
smoked a cigar, I was thinking of retiring, when ap- 
proached by a grey-haired and affable stranger in evening 
dress, who spoke excellent English, and handed me a 
visiting card bearing his name, address, and the signi- 
ficant words : " Roulette-Baccara " in one corner. The 
thing looked suspicious, but, impelled by curiosity, I 



THE CRIMEA-THE COAST 201 

strolled out shortly afterwards to a house with three 
sumptuously furnished rooms, two of which contained a 
gambling table and the third an inviting cold supper. 
Many players had already arrived, and I recognized at 
least one distinguished personage connected with the 
Court, who, although the " Villa Kasbek " was obviously 
a tripot, was plunging heavily. The " Baccara " 
table was unapproachable, but I took a vacant place at 
" Roulette," which was not so popular, and, strange to 
relate, left the place a winner. My modest stakes, 
however, were invariably placed on the even chances 
opposed to the heavy wagers of a gilded and slightly 
inebriated youth who sat opposite, a simple little system 
which I have worked with success even in that inter- 
national stronghold of knaves and crooks, Port Said ! 

There are so many places of interest within easy 
reach of Yalta that one need never be dull for an hour 
in the day-time. I did not visit Livadia, (which was 
occupied by the Imperial Family), but there are now 
private residences almost as beautiful and extensive as 
that of the late Emperor. Unfortunately the harbour 
here is very exposed, but several vessels, including the 
Imperial yacht Standart, were moored inside the break- 
water constructed of recent years to afford an anchorage 
during the tempestuous weather which, at certain 
seasons, rages in the Black Sea. And talking of the 
Standart, I have only once had an opportunity of seeing 
the ex-Tsarina, and this was at Yalta, where I had 
never previously set eyes upon the woman whose secret 
and baneful influence might, but for recent events in 
Russia, have caused irreparable injury to the cause of 
the Allies. Her late Majesty was on this occasion 
driving into the town from Livadia, in a pony-cart, 
accompanied only by the Grand Duchess Olga, and no 
one would have dreamt that the owner of that pale, 
girlish face, with its sad, delicately-chiselled features, 
would in a few short years be implicated in a tragic 
plot which has staggered the world and for ever deprived 
the Romanoffs of all their former might and power. 
It had, however, for long been an open secret in Russia 
that the Empress suffered from a form of nervous disease 
which rendered her morbidly susceptible to the influence 



202 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

of people around her, especially if they happened to be 
clever and unscrupulous members of the opposite sex, 
and of this failing the German Government was not slow 
to take advantage. Yet although many secret agents 
and spies in the Kaiser's pay have, since the outbreak 
of war, enjoyed the ex-Empress's special favour, I am 
credibly informed that no one ever attained a greater 
hold over her than the unspeakable scoundrel, Rasputin, 
whom, by the way, I met some years ago at Tomsk in 
Siberia, where his predilection for women and alcohol 
was already notorious. How this uncouth boor ever 
became an illustrious and gifted lady's constant com- 
panion and adviser remains a mystery, (for there can be 
no foundation for the infamous slanders which have 
been freely circulated), although Rasputin's treachery 
probably proved a blessing in disguise. For had it 
not been for his assassination and the public inquiry 
which followed, the conspiracy would have continued to 
ripen until it would probably have been too late to avert 
or repair its disastrous effects. Fortunately the Rus- 
sians are a forgiving race, and make allowances for the 
fact that the woman who once ruled them was a German, 
not only by nationality, but by instinct and preference ; 
who, although she adored her husband, never really 
loved her adopted country, and only reluctantly em- 
braced the Greek faith under the very strongest pressure 
from the Court of Berlin ! 

I travelled from here to Sevastopol in a motor-car 
by invitation of its owner, a wealthy Californian whose 
acquaintance I made, appropriately enough, in an 
American bar, and who was touring Europe in company 
with an English valet and a French poodle. Our casual 
friendship was cemented by the fact that we possessed 
mutual friends in the Klondike, where, during the first 
days of the gold rush, Elisha B. Kellogg had rapidly 
amassed a large fortune. So I accepted this friendly 
offer only to regret, within a few hours, that I had 
deserted Ivan and his old shandrydan, which, although 
the American's " Mercedes " was the latest thing in 
speed and luxury, would have been far preferable. Had 
we travelled at anything like a moderate pace all would 
have been well ; but my companion was obsessed with a 



THE CRIMEA— THE COAST 203 

desire to tear madly along, devouring space without even 
a glance at the scenery, and with a mind solely centred 
on the fact that some place or other must be reached 
at a certain hour for the purpose of refreshment. So 
this exquisite drive, to which I had planned to devote 
at least three days of lazy enjoyment, was accomplished 
in under twelve hours, during which I bitterly realized 
how sadly an American millionaire can take his pleasure. 
Fortunately my friend's guide at Yalta had informed 
him that distinguished travellers invariably halted at 
certain points of interest on the road, and these Mr. 
Kellogg elected to visit, as he expressed it, " according 
to schedule." But for this we should certainly have 
reached Sevastopol " in record time ! " — or in under an 
hour, as the distance is only fifty-five English miles ! 

One of these places, (at which I was permitted to regain 
my breath), was a village called Mishov, which is 
rendered interesting by the fact that here once lived a 
certain Princess Galitzin, a famous beauty and universal 
favourite at the Court of Alexander I. Suddenly weary- 
ing, however, of worldly pomps and vanities, the Princess 
retired into private life and devoted herself with such 
zeal to religion and the welfare of the poor, that the" 
Tsar, rendered uneasy by her advanced views and 
increasing influence over the people, was compelled to 
exile the woman, who had once been the object of his 
warm admiration, to the Crimea. Here the Princess, 
undeterred by a sentence of banishment, resumed her 
spiritual crusade amongst the Tartars, assisted by one 
who had in brighter days been her constant companion, 
and who now further proved her loyalty and affection 
by sharing her misfortunes. This lady was known in 
Russia as the Comtesse Guacher, although most people 
at Court were aware that the name had been adopted 
by the notorious Comtesse de Lamotte-Valois, who in 
Paris was publicly branded on the Place de La Greve, 
for complicity in the scandal connected with Queen Marie 
Antoinette, Cardinal de Rohan and a diamond necklace. 
As years went on Princess Galitzin recovered a portion 
of her confiscated fortune, and with this she purchased 
the estate of " Gaspra " (which adjoins Mishov), where 
she built a charming residence, in which she continued 



204 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

to reside, until her death, with the devoted friend who 
had voluntarily shared her exile. 

Although the most alluring aspects of nature entirely 
failed to arouse Kellogg's enthusiasm, he seemed deeply 
interested in Madame de Lamotte-Valois, probably be- 
cause the latter was associated with some shady trans- 
action concerning a valuable piece of jewellery ! Yet 
Kellogg, though a rough diamond, was an entertaining 
companion, with startling views on life expressed in a 
dry, quaint manner which would have made his fortune 
on the music-hall stage ; while, although practically un- 
educated, this nouveau riche displayed a shrewd percep- 
tion of men and human nature. His views, however, 
on mythology, which were propounded while examining 
an ancient group of statuary at Gaspra, were sadly ele- 
mentary, and recalled those of that famous stage-manager, 
the late Charles Harris, who, while rehearsing a ballet 
at the Empire Theatre, was advised by a friend to in- 
clude the Three Graces in a final scenic display. " Three 
Graces on a stage of that size ! " yelled Harris; " why, 
they will never be seen ! We must have a dozen at 
least ! " 

Shortly after leaving Mishov we passed Aloupka and 
its castle, a quaint combination of Moorish and Gothic 
architecture, built some years ago by Count Vorontzoff 
at a cost of many millions of roubles, for its construction 
entailed a huge excavation from the sheer side of a cliff, 
and its interior is said to equal even that of Livadia in 
luxury and splendour. But even the Livadia gardens 
cannot be compared to those of Aloupka, where nature 
and art have been cunningly blended with marvellous 
effect. The charm of the place defies description, and 
I could have wandered for hours amidst those shady 
avenues, carpeted with smooth green sward, " pergolas " 
of roses, jasmine, and clematis; groves of orange and 
magnolia trees, traversed by paths, with herbaceous 
borders of every imaginable flower ; and forests of fern 
with their miniature grottoes, fountains and lakes. 
Even down the face of the cliff, which, in front of the 
mansion, slopes sharply down to the sea, azaleas and 
rhododendrons grew freely amongst pine and walnut 
trees, from the branches of which hung festoons of 



THE CRIMEA-THE COAST 205 

twining creepers ; while nearing the beach, narrow walks 
wound in and out among the rocks, every cleft of which 
had been carefully filled with earth for the cultivation 
of some rare exotic. But we had barely entered this 
modern Garden of Eden when the sky was suddenly 
obscured by a dense white mist which completely blotted 
out the lovely surroundings. These fogs are prevalent 
in early autumn, but seldom last long, and when we 
reached Simeis all traces of this one had disappeared. 

We lunched here in a garden off roast larks wrapped 
in vine leaves, wild asparagus, and delicious honey, 
for which latter the place is famed. And the sunshine 
and warmth, scent of cherry-pie and mignonette, and 
drowsy hum of bees seemed for a time to soothe my 
restless friend, whom I therefore persuaded to remain for 
longer than usual, in this seductive spot of which 
Castelnau, the French traveller, wrote : " La suisse est 
fertile en charmants paysages, mais on I'oublie en voyant 
le vallon de Simeis ! " The lower slopes of the hills 
around it are densely wooded ; but at one place, towards 
their bare and rocky summits, a tiny village was peril- 
ously perched on a fragment of cliff which had slipped 
from the mountain side to pause midway, and which 
looked as though a touch would complete its downfall. 

These landslides are more frequent a few miles further, 
near the Phoros Pass, where there is a rather dangerous 
bit of road under beetling crags and tapering aiguilles. 
Portions of these occasionally become detached to fall 
on the road below ; and on one occasion, about a century 
ago, a gigantic mass of rock came crashing into the 
valley to destroy a whole village. From here it is but 
a short distance to the Tartar village of Baidar, ap- 
proached by a pass 3000 feet in height, where there is 
a great granite gateway, which might have been designed 
as a picture frame to the glorious panorama beyond it. 
The Baidar Pass is now drivable, but could formerly 
only be negotiated on horseback over the " Devil's 
Staircase," by a narrow pathw£y hewn out of the rock, 
where dizzy chasms were crossed on trunks of trees. 
And here we said farewell to glorious scenery and soft 
balmy air — for The Baidar-Gate is the dividing line 
between the sunlit coast, " where there is little rain and 



206 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

no snow," and a cloudy and sterile region where we 
sadly bade adieu to glorious scenery and soft balmy 
air. The reader may already have wondered how the 
Crimea can be so warm in winter, when hundreds of 
our soldiers perished there, during the war, of arctic 
cold; well, for the simple reason that only desolate 
downs and sand dunes, which for most of the year are 
covered with snow and swept with icy gales, lie west 
of the Baidar Pass. It is almost as though you opened 
the door of a well-warmed house, to walk into a cold 
and wintry street. To-day, for instance, we noticed, 
for the first time, a sharp nip in the air, while the tem- 
perature at Sevastopol was 15° Fahr. lower than it had 
been on the preceding day at Yalta. Moreover, the 
sun seemed less brilliant, and the sky less blue, as if 
in harmony with the now grey and sullen landscape. 

There is little of interest about Balaclava, save its 
association with the famous Charge of the Light Brigade, 
of which a memorial, erected near the Valley of Death, 
remains as a record. So we drove straight on to Sevasto- 
pol, to reach it as the town and its frowning forts were 
bathed in the glow of a crimson sunset. This is un- 
doubtedly one of the finest military harbours in the 
world, and enormous sums have of recent years been 
spent upon its fortifications, which, before the introduction 
of modern siege guns, were supposed to be impregnable. 
Only a few tramps and sailing vessels lay at anchor in 
the long, land-locked arm of the sea, which was, however, 
crowded with Russian warships, destroyers and sub- 
marines ; and the incessant clatter of hammers, creak of 
machinery, and screech of steam sirens, were somewhat 
trying after the peaceful seaside towns and villages. 
Sevastopol would be attractive but for the incessant 
glare, for there is little shade, and nearly every building 
is composed of limestone of a dazzling white which, in 
bright weather, is very trying to the eyesight. The 
place is essentially Russian, and Tartars are seldom met 
with in its busy streets, or indeed strangers of any 
nationality, for I was apparently regarded as a spy 
by all around me, and therefore carefully avoided 
military ground. Little now remains of the ruins caused 
by the siege, though one may still faintly distinguish 



THE CRIMEA-THE COAST 207 

the " no man's land " which lay between the Russian 
earthworks and batteries of the AlHes. A memento of 
the war also exists in the shape of some guns on the 
Esplanade facing the harbour, which are generally 
pointed out to tourists as having been captured from the 
British. But this is quite erroneous, for they were 
borrowed from us by our Turkish allies, who lost them 
at Balaclava, and are therefore, perhaps, the identical 
field-pieces which Lord Cardigan was ordered to re- 
capture, and which led to his disastrous, but ever- 
glorious, charge. 

Other objects of interest pertaining to the siege may 
be seen in the house of the late General Todleben, who 
presented it to the town to be used as a museum. This 
I did not visit, but walked out to the Malakoff, which is 
worth seeing if only to realize the magnitude of the feat 
accomplished by the French, when on the 8th of Sep- 
tember, 1855, this hitherto invulnerable fortress was 
captured, with characteristic dash, by Chasseurs and 
Zouaves, a brilliant victory which conclusively sealed 
the fate of Sevastopol. Over 30,000 Russians perished 
in the Malakoff' s defence; a number which may now 
seem insignificant, but which was, in those days, of 
considerable importance.^ 

My American friend displayed as little interest in 
military relics and reminiscences as in the beauties of 
nature, and on the morning following our arrival, the 
automobile, English valet and canine appendage, were 
transferred to a steamer leaving direct for Odessa, their 
owner having expressed his intention of proceeding to 
Vienna as rapidly as gold and petrol would carry him. 
I have generally observed that, when visiting Europe, 
Americans are irresistibly attracted by any city or place 
but the one in which they happen to be located. So I 
here bade the Klondiker farewell, and all success on his 
erratic flight through Europe, in which I had certainly 
no desire to participate ! 

Nevertheless I missed, at first, the companionship 

1 " The Tricolor flag was hoisted and the Imperial eagles planted on 
the Malakoff within ten minutes of the French quitting their trenches." 
(Letter from Captain the Hon. Harry Keppel, R.N., to Sir Edmund 
Lyons, Naval Commander-in-Chief.) 



208 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

of this record-breaking fiend, although it was as well that 
the latter did not accompany me to Kherson, where he 
would surely have been detained for two or three days 
by heavy rains and impassable roads, and probably 
developed symptoms of homicidal mania. And it was 
only in order to visit a sick friend that I went there 
myself, for Kherson is a busy but dull place, the journey 
by rail to which was tedious and wearisome. It was, 
however, interesting to find that Howard the philan- 
thropist died here in January 1789 of pneumonia, and 
not, as many people imagine, of gaol fever in England. 
And, by the way, I noted that a monument erected to 
the memory of this famous Englishman, near the Church 
of the Assumption, sadly needs repair. 

Russians call Odessa a little Paris, and though the 
simile is exaggerated, it is perhaps the most agreeable 
city, next to Kieff, in Russia. The place is, however, 
little more than a century old, which may partly ^ 
account for its cosmopolitan character, and the fact that 
it is really less suggestive of Paris than of a mixture of 
San Francisco and Marseilles. For there is little to 
connect the town with Russia but its typical Greek 
churches and Slavonic shop-signs, while even the names 
of the streets are also written up in Italian. But whoever 
selected the site must have had an artistic eye, for 
nothing could be finer than the approach from the sea, 
where the golden domes and white buildings of Odessa 
are visible for a great distance, the town being situated 
on a lofty eminence overlooking the spacious harbour, 
the improvement of which must have entailed an 
enormous amount of expenditure and labour. 

The population of Odessa must now be close upon 
500,000, composed of so many nationalities that trade 
here is largely in the hands of foreigners — French, 
Italians, Greeks, and a few English. But the Jews are 
the most numerous ; and nowhere else in Russia are they 
so cordially detested, chiefly because by dint of tenacity, 
thrift, and cunning they have gradually contrived to 
attain not only commercial, but political influence. 

^ Odessa, then known as " Hadji-Bey,'* was captured in 1788 during 
the Russo-Turkish War, and the treaty of Jassy (in 1791) secured to 
Russia the territory from the Bug to the Dniester. 



THE CRIMEA-THE COAST 209 

Many a ragged, ringleted Hebrew has drifted here from 
Poland or Rumania, to blossom, within a few years, 
into a sleek, frock-coated financier, who has generally 
practised usury in addition to some other line of business. 
But the abolition of alcohol must have been a serious 
blow to Israelites of the lower class, who owned most 
of the bars and grog-shops. 

A steep road leads from the landing-quay to the town, 
which owes its beauty and prosperity to the Due de 
Richelieu, who was its Governor in 1803, and who was 
responsible for the French aspect of the principal streets, 
with their beds of flowers and rows of acacia trees, 
conveying an impression of gaiety and tidiness which 
partly justifies the alleged resemblance of this city to 
the capital of France. Odessa even now is ever growing, 
and new suburbs are rising up in all directions, with 
buildings built of bright-coloured stone obtained from 
adjacent quarries, which is, however, so friable that 
blocks of granite had to be imported from Italy for the 
principal thoroughfares, which are beautifully paved. 
And variety lends a certain charm to both the public 
and private dwellings, which bear traces, not only of 
Russian, but also French and Italian architecture. 

This is in every way an expensive place, and the 
shops in the Rue de Richelieu (some of which are owned 
by Frenchmen) afford every opportunity for extrava- 
gance, while there is here no " Gostimoi Dvor " to lure 
purchasers away with its cheaper prices. But the 
" pearl of the Black Sea " has one great disadvantage 
in the shape of a variable climate, and it is never safe 
to go out at any season of the year without an overcoat, 
owing to sudden changes of temperature. I have 
landed here, in early autumn, when a bitter east wind 
compelled people in the streets to wear furs and sheep- 
skins, only to discard them on the following day, which 
was sultry and oppressive. And this sort of thing goes 
on throughout the year, while as a rule, the weather in 
summer is only too often dull and overcast. 

Odessa has flat and uninteresting surroundings, and 
its " datcha " life in summer is a poor imitation of those 
around Kieff and Moscow. Shrubs and flowers are 
only raised with difficulty in the adjacent country, 



210 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

although the town has plenty of water, and public and 
private gardens abound and flourish. Some of the 
former had open-air theatres and restaurants, but it is 
generally too cold, even in September, to sit out of doors 
late at night. But climate excepted, there are worse 
places than this to spend a week in, provided a stranger 
is provided with letters of introduction. For hospitality 
is always freely extended here, especially to the English 
traveller, who will therefore do well to avoid the hotels, 
nearly all of which are inordinately expensive. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE CAUCASUS (1) 

Some years ago I travelled by land to India from 
Russia/ and should probably never have visited the 
Caucasus had it not been situated on my line of route 
from Petrograd to Bombay. Time was, then, of 
importance, and it was therefore only on a later occasion 
that I was able to wander, at my ease, through that 
region of snowy peaks, dense forests and blue lakes, 
which little more than half a century ago was infested 
by brigands and cut-throats, but which is now regarded 
as a Russian Switzerland, and visited, in summer, by 
a yearly increasing number of tourists. 

Caucasia, which is bisected by the Caucasus, a con- 
tinuous chain of mountains extending from the Black 
Sea to the Caspian, has now a population of about six 
millions, but Russia was compelled to fight incessantly 
for nearly two hundred years before its numerous and 
warlike tribes were finally brought into subjection. 
The indigenous races are Caucasian and Mongolian, but 
there are now many Russians, exclusive of Armenians, 
Circassians, Georgians, Lesghians, Persians, Tartars, 
Turkomans, Kurds, Greeks and Jews, all these tribes 
retaining, although they are Russian subjects, their 
own religion and customs. Over a hundred different 
languages and dialects are spoken throughout the 
province, and even Tiflis, the capital, is a fair imitation 
of the Tower of Babel. 

This territory, which is about the size of France, 
may be roughly divided into two parts which are 
divided by the Caucasus range, over 300 miles in 
length : Circassia and Daghestan on the northern, and 

^ Via Persia and Baluchistan. See A Bide to India, by the author. 
Messrs. Chapman & Hall, London. 

211 



212 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

Georgia and Mingrelia on the southern side — ^these four 
provinces being again subdivided into smaller states or 
districts. It is essentially an alpine country, although 
most of its ranges rise to no great height, and are of easy 
gradients, culminating in vast plateaux four or five 
thousand feet above sea level. On the other hand, 
isolated peaks like the Kasbek, Elburz and one or two 
others, attain a height of 15,000 feet and the regions of 
eternal snow ; indeed, the highest summits of the Cau- 
casus exceed in positive elevation the most lofty of the 
Alps, and its glaciers excel those of Switzerland in 
size and grandeur. Mount Elburz, for instance, is over 
18,000 feet high and is visible for a distance of 200 
miles, while Mount Kasbek, although much lower, is 
considerably higher than Mont Blanc. The valleys and 
plains possess magnificent pastures, with luxuriant wild 
flowers, and there are dense and as yet unexplored 
forests of valuable timber. This is, indeed, one of 
Russia's most important possessions, with boundless 
natural resources which, when properly exploited, will 
render it one of the richest countries in the world. 

Vladikavkaz ^ is a picturesque little place, not unlike 
some large Swiss village, with its gabled houses, rich 
meadows and clear, rushing streams. It is a few miles 
north of the Caucasus range ; and there are two ways of 
reaching Tiflis, the capital — one by rail, a circuitous 
journey via Petrovsk and Baku, and the other by driving 
over the Dariel Pass,^ for the military protection of 
which Vladikavkaz was originally founded. It is well, 
however, to note that in late autumn and early spring 
the Dariel is often blocked by avalanches, and com- 
munication is sometimes interrupted for days. 

The natives around Vladikavkaz, although once 
rebellious, are now peaceful and law-abiding people, 
called the Ossetes,^ many of whom have become Chris- 
tians, and are even employed in the Russian Government 
service. Some have, however, remained pagans, and 
the burial of the latter is attended with strange and 

^ Meaning literally, " Ruler of the Caucasus.** 
^ " Daryol " is a Turkish word signifying " a narrow path." 
^ Some say they are descendants of a party of Crusaders who came 
north in returning from the Holy Land and settled in the Caucasus. 



THE CAUCASUS 213 

rather repulsive rites, one of which is to cut off a widow's 
right ear and bury it with her husband in order that 
the latter may claim his wife in the next world. Their 
marriage customs are also quaint, a newly wedded 
couple being ostracized for some days after the ceremony, 
for even an authorized union is regarded as shameful 
for that space of time ; while a girl, when she has reached 
her teens, is tightly sewn into a pair of stays, which are 
only removed, on the wedding night, by her husband. 
But these practices are gradually dying out under 
Russian rule and the influence of civilization. 

There was a public motor-car service across the 
mountains, but the vehicle was so dirty and crowded 
that I hired a comfortable " tarantass," and set out 
from Vladikavkaz one bright May morning to travel to 
Tiflis by the highest carriage road in the world. The 
distance is about 170 miles, and the posting so well 
organized that the Journey can be accomplished, if 
necessary, in a little over twenty-four hours. My friend 
Kellogg would, no doubt, have done it in less, but I 
preferred to take it easy and sleep a couple of nights 
on the road ! 

On leaving Vladikavkaz we soon reached the " Gate 
of the Caucasus," a gloomy corridor composed of slate 
and limestone rocks, so close together that there was 
barely room to skirt the waters of a foaming torrent. 
The summit of the Pass is over 8000 feet high, and the 
construction of a coach road here was certainly a mar- 
vellous feat of engineering. But it is only on reaching 
the Dariel Gorge, about twenty miles from Vladikavkaz, 
that the magnitude of the task is fully apparent, for at 
this point the road, although blasted and hewn, at a 
dizzy height, out of solid rock, is as broad and safe as 
Piccadilly. Upon entering the famous gorge we drove 
between towering walls of granite and porphyry, leaning 
forward from either side at such an angle that, here and 
there, they almost met overhead, blocking out the sky 
and sunshine. It was almost a relief to emerge from 
this dark and chilly defile even into a region of valleys 
and slopes of shale, strewn with huge granite boulders 
and stones which, roughly heaped together, formed, at 
intervals, a road-mender's shanty, where the workmen 



214 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

employed are sometimes imprisoned, in winter, for days 
together by gale and avalanche. Nothing that I have 
seen in the Swiss and Italian Alps can compare with this 
scenery, which was almost appalling in its solitude and 
grandeur. 

The only signs of life I saw that day were a score of 
camels which, with tinkling bells, padded softly past 
the carriage, while shortly afterwards there appeared, 
far down in the valley, a modern fort, with towers, 
loopholes, and Cossack sentries lounging outside a guard- 
house. This was Fort Dariel, which commands both 
entrances to the Caucasian Khyber, and which, in olden 
days, witnessed many a desperate struggle between the 
Ossetes and their Muscovite foes. And again above 
us, perched like an eagle on the edge of a cliff, was 
the ruined castle of Darghalan, 2000 years old, which 
was once inhabited by Darya, a Georgian Messalina 
famed for her beauty, who lured legions of lovers to her 
desolate fastness, only to have each one hurled, when 
tired of his embraces, into the swiftly-flowing river 
thousands of feet below. 

About an hour's drive from here brought me to the 
little post-house of Kasbek, whence, being a fine day, 
there was a glorious view of the mountain of that name, 
with its snowy peak sparkling in the sunshine, and look- 
ing, in that rarefied atmosphere, yards instead of miles 
away. Here I procured a saddle-horse and rode to 
inspect a picturesque little church some distance away, 
where the Greek priest in charge informed me that the 
Kasbek is venerated as a sacred mountain, the cradle 
of Our Saviour having been brought there from the 
Holy Land and deposited in a certain cave, where it 
still remains. But the veracity of this statement was 
somewhat shaken when my informant proceeded to 
point due east to what looked like a white cloud on the 
horizon, and declare that it was Mount Elburz, although 
the latter, from this point, lies about due west ! 

The post-houses on this road were the best I have ever 
seen in Russia as regards decent food and comfortable 
accommodation, one even containing beds with sheets 
and a " buffet " for " zakouski." Kasbek post-house 
was, indeed, occasionally used as an hotel, for I met 



THE CAUCASUS 215 

there an Englishman from Tiflis, who frequently made 
it his headquarters while stalking wild goat. And at 
dinner that night a portion of his bag convinced me that 
the animal in question is excellent eating ! 

Mount Kasbek was first ascended by Mr. Douglas 
Freshfield and two English companions in 1868, and the 
trail then broken by these adventurous pioneers has 
since been followed by many mountaineers, for the 
climb, except towards the summit, is comparatively 
easy, and guides may be procured at Tiflis or Vladi- 
kavkaz for the ascent. But Elburz is another matter, 
being more difficult and perilous, although Mr. Freshfield 
also succeeded in reaching the summit during the 
same year. 

I passed the second night at the post-house of Mleti, 
where, as at every other post-house on this road, pretty 
specimens of crystal pyrites and various ores, found in 
the neighbourhood, were offered for sale. From Mleti 
the road gradually descends through a volcanic-looking 
wilderness without a sign of human habitation or trace 
of greenery, the only object we passed in this desolate 
region being a huge vulture, sitting, gorged and sullen, 
on a crag by the roadside. The drive now became rather 
tiresome, for the Dariel Pass is the only interesting spot 
between Vladikavkaz and Tiflis, although the former 
amply atones for subsequent monotony not only by 
its beauty, but as showing the triumph of man over the 
titanic forces of nature. Yet, notwithstanding the 
apparently perilous places over which we passed, there 
was nothing throughout the entire journey to inspire 
the most nervous person with fear or apprehension.^ 

At last we reached the plains, and vegetation con- 
sisting first of clumps of fir trees and then more extensive 
patches of pine forest, while the road passed through 
stretches of meadowland, with flocks and herds, tended 
by swarthy, scowling shepherds armed to the teeth, 
for sheep-stealing is still a favourite pastime in the rural 
districts. Some of the villages consisted of mere caves, 
hollowed out of hills by the roadside, and I learnt that 
sanguinary encounters often occur between the occu- 

1 Its construction cost about four millions sterling, and at least 
£30,000 a year are spent in keeping it in repair. 



216 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

pants of these lonely hamlets, generally arising from 
disputes connected with the loss of cattle or misappro- 
priation of land, while in some parts of Daghestan the 
" vendetta " is practised with Corsican tenacity and 
ruthlessness. While driving past these hovels we were 
often attacked by large, fierce dogs, which flew at, and 
even bit, the horses, while their owners looked on with 
amused unconcern. 

Towards evening we rattled over the cobbled streets 
of Mtsket, now a commonplace market-town, but once 
the capital of Georgia, and remained here awhile to 
visit the quaint old church to which Christ's seamless 
robe is said to have been brought by a Jew from Gol- 
gotha. ^ Ancient chronicles aver that Mtsket is the 
oldest town in the world, but this is probably doubtful, 
although it was certainly the residence of the Georgian 
kings until a.d. 499, when the capital was removed to 
its present site. And here, oddly enough, it was colder 
than on the summit of the Dariel, for the Caucasian 
climate is varied and erratic, being largely influenced 
by snow-bearing mountains, winds, and the situation 
of the country between two seas. The conditions may 
almost be said to range from arctic cold north of the 
mountains, to sub-tropical warmth on the southern 
slopes. 

Tiflis,^ the capital of the Caucasus, is about midway 
between Batoum on the Black Sea and Baku on the 
Caspian, and is, commercially speaking, a favourite 
meeting-place of Western and Asiatic races. There is 
probably no other city in creation where European and 
Oriental life are so closely intermingled, or where both 
races, being united by mutual interests, live in such 
perfect peace and harmony. Nor is there any town in 
the world, that I know of, where the streets present 
such an array of fantastic costumes or where you can 
hear forty different languages and dialects spoken 
during the course of a short stroll. The town is, there- 
fore, attractive by reason of its originality, but is 
situated in a sterile, sun-baked valley, formed by steep 

^ It is now in the Cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow. 
^ So called from the hot mineral springs which abound in the vicinity, 
Sind derived from the Russian word " teplo,'* warm. 



THE CAUCASUS 217 

hills, which in summer intercept every breeze and render 
the place unbearably hot and oppressive, although in 
winter they form a shelter which, combined with a dry, 
bracing climate, render this a favourite resort of invalids. 
Tiflis was built in this hollow, instead of on the lofty 
plateau above it, on account of hot mineral springs, 
which from time immemorial have been famed for their 
curative powers. 

The river Kur, which falls into the Caspian, bisects 
the city, its precipitous banks displaying tier upon tier 
of old and picturesque Eastern buildings with gay 
fa9ades, brightly-coloured roofs and carved wooden 
balconies, the whole forming a medley of incongruous 
architecture, where no two dwellings are alike, and where 
the rich man's palace is often elbowed by the squalid 
mud hovel. This is known as the Asiatic quarter. 

The modern and European portion of Tiflis is in 
imposing contrast to the dirt and squalor of the latter, 
although costly goods and valuable art treasures from 
all parts of the East are stored in its bazaars, where 
days may be spent, profitably or otherwise, by the 
bargain-hunter. When last here I was entertained at 
the Governor-General's palace, from which radiate the 
principal streets, well paved and spacious, tree-lined 
avenues, one of which, the " Galavinsky Prospekt," 
would be considered a handsome thoroughfare in any 
European capital, while several iron bridges span the 
river, connecting Europe with Asia in the native quarter. 
Near the " Galavinsky " are the cathedral, law courts, 
opera and several excellent hotels, of which the Hotel 
de Londres (kept by a Frenchman) is perhaps the most 
comfortable and by no means dear. The tram-cars 
here are better than those in Petrograd, and the public 
vehicles were almost as good as those in Bukarest, 
which used to be the best in Europe. The only drawback 
to Tiflis, so far as I could see, was a lack of pure water, 
but this deficiency has now, I believe, been remedied. 

The Europeans here comprise Russians, Poles, Italians, 
French, Rumanians, Levantines, Serbians and (before 
the war) many Germans, of every class, who not only 
settled in the town, but swarmed into the villages on 
its outskirts, which have now been cleared of their 



218 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

unwelcome and unsavoury presence. And I also met 
many of my countrymen here who had been attracted 
by recent and important discoveries of oil in the Maikop 
district. 

Society was chiefly commercial, although the Caucasian 
capital is, or was, like Malta, " a little military hot- 
house," and its streets were crowded with uniforms, 
many of which, worn by officers of crack cavalry or 
Cossack regiments, were unusually brilliant and 
becoming. 

When I was last there, Tiflis had, as regards morals, 
a rather shady reputation, and this was, perhaps, partly 
due to the military element, and partly to the fact that 
the lax and cosmopolitan habits adopted by male 
members of the mercantile community were freely shared 
by their wives and daughters. Thus, I was invited by a 
Prince, (nearly every one here is a Prince !), to attend a 
ball which, although a society function, was towards 
its close more suggestive of a rowdy party in Montmartre 
than a decorous family entertainment. Yet my host, 
a grey-bearded, sad-looking Greek merchant, seemed 
quite unmoved by the risque antics of his youthful wife 
and female guests, and even gravely joined in them 
himself ! The evening certainly opened with due 
propriety, and such refined and graceful measures as 
the valse, mazurka and " Lesginka " (a Lesghian dance), 
but it concluded, towards the small hours, with a 
" cancan," which recalled the wildest nights at the old 
" Moulin-Rouge ! " 

I was also taken to a fashionable club called the 
" Krujok " (a kind of Murray's), where ladies were 
admitted at any time, even Georgian women in their 
pretty national dress, which contrasted quaintly with 
modern French and Italian " toilettes." And the native 
costume was generally more attractive than its wearer, 
for the beauty of Georgian and Circassian women has 
been greatly exaggerated. Most of them grow stout 
and look elderly before they are thirty, and even the 
youngest have a vacant, animal type of face, which to 
European eyes is almost revolting. 

Ball-room " etiquette " here was rather puzzling at 
first, for you might not dance more than once during the 



THE CAUCASUS 219 

evening with the same lady, whom, on concluding a 
short turn, you had to leave standing alone to be claimed 
by some one else, while you sought another partner. 
" Roulette " was played between the dances, sometimes 
for very high stakes, especially by wealthy Armenians. 
I must confess I have never been favourably impressed 
with this race, who appeared to me to have all the vices 
of Jews and none of their virtues, and who seemed to be 
cordially disliked by both Europeans and natives. 

On other nights I went to the theatre, a pretty little 
house decorated in the Moorish style, where I attended, 
on the same occasion, a performance of Hamlet in 
Russian, and Pagliacci well rendered by Italians. The 
evenings were therefore never dull, the more so that 
Tiflis people appeared to commence the day after dark. 
Even business men seldom rose until eleven a.m., took 
a light meal and strolled down to the office until about 
two o'clock, when they returned home to dine. A 
siesta followed until four p.m., when work for another 
couple of hours left them free for the night's amusement, 
which, commencing with supper about nine p.m., did not 
generally terminate until three or four in the morning. 
This mode of life, however, only applies to winter and 
spring, for all who can afford it pass the summer months 
in the country, either in a " datcha " or at the sea- 
side, for Tiflis is at this season a dusty and sweltering 
desert. 

However immoral this city may be, there is no out- 
ward display of vice, which, however, undoubtedly 
exists on a scale only equalled in some Continental 
capitals. The mineral baths here, for instance, were 
largely patronized by wealthy clients, who paid prices 
that would certainly not have been charged for the 
simple treatment of rheumatic and other complaints. 
For a bathing establishment, run on scientific lines, does 
not generally provide its patrons with cabinets parti- 
culiers and champagne suppers, yet this was the case 
here, just as it used to be .before the late Emperor's 
bogus moral crusade in Buda-Pest. Moreover, scandals 
have occasionally occurred in connection with the 
Tiflis establishment which have brought it under the 
notice of the authorities, especially when, some years 



220 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

ago, a young cavalry officer drew his revolver and shot 
a " droshky " driver for insulting two young and well- 
connected ladies whom the former was driving, at 
midnight, to the baths, from a ball at the Governor's 
palace. The tragedy was, of course, hushed up, although 
not entirely, by reason of certain divorce proceedings 
which followed its occurrence. 

A stranger may walk about the streets of Tiflis all 
night, unarmed and in perfect safety, so long as he keeps 
to the European quarter, which is beautifully lit by 
electricity, although certain streets and alleys on the 
Asiatic side are best avoided after sunset. Some parts 
of the country, notably those near the Turkish frontier, 
are still dangerous on account of highway robberies, 
but elsewhere you can travel quite as safely as in the 
remoter parts of Greece or Sicily. I was never once 
molested, although I have ridden alone through some of 
the wildest and loneliest parts of Georgia. Nor have I 
ever heard of any serious case of brigandage having 
occurred within the past decade throughout the Caucasus. 

The latter has, of late years, increased in popularity, 
amongst Englishmen intent on sport or mountaineering, 
and I met in Tiflis a well-known Indian " Shikari " who 
had been there for two successive seasons for the 
purpose of shooting bear and ibex, numbers of which he 
had killed. March, he told me, is the best time for 
chamois and wild boar, and pheasants, quail and wood- 
cock abound early in April and within easy reach of 
the capital, while leopards and tigers are obtainable, 
but only near the Persian frontier. My informant added, 
however, that sport here is deteriorating, as few land- 
owners now preserve, and natives possessed of a gun- 
licence can shoot all the year round if they choose. 
Red-deer, for instance, which were formerly numerous 
only thirty miles from Tiflis, are now almost extinct. 
But there are plenty of wild-fowl on the shores of the 
Caspian, and, in the steppe country, good fun can be 
had coursing hares or stalking antelope, which latter, 
my friend told me, he had once hunted in the depth of 
winter, with some Tartars, by the following quaint 
method. Each man was mounted, with a rifle slung 
over his back, and holding a greyhound balanced on his 




'.<*'' 



THE CAUCASUS 221 

horse's withers. Having sighted and broken up a herd, 
each member of the party selected a single antelope, 
which he persistently followed, never pressing or losing 
sight of his quarry, perhaps for a whole day, until the 
latter, harassed and worn out by labouring with balled 
hoofs through deep snow-drifts, fell to the ground ex- 
hausted, and unable to move further. The Tartar then 
released his dog, which soon seized and despatched its 
prey. 

The streams throughout this country abound in 
salmon, trout, and many other kinds of fish, which are 
seldom interfered with, for neither Russians nor natives 
ever throw a fly, and the latter, save those who live by 
the sea-shore, rarely use a net. Circassia is the best 
district for trout during the months of April, May and 
June, but it is well to add that a fisherman must come 
here provided with everything needful in the way of 
tackle, which, even in Tiflis, is not procurable. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE CAUCASUS (2) 

You may leave the bright and busy boulevards of 
modern Tiflis, with their stately public and private 
buildings, luxurious hotels, attractive shops, and other 
signs of European civilization, and walk within a few 
minutes to the Asiatic Quarter — ^to realize that you are 
in another world, as essentially Eastern, in every respect, 
as the most secluded portions of Stamboul or Teheran. 
The change is as complete as when one picture on a 
lantern- screen has been suddenly replaced by another. 

There are here not one, but many, Bazaars, running 
in all directions under one rambling roof like burrows 
in a rabbit-warren. A guide is therefore needed to 
conduct you through this intricate maze, which is 
entered from a broad but squalid thoroughfare, running 
at right-angles to the River Kur. From here I walked, 
for nearly an hour, through a succession of dark and 
crowded streets and alleys before emerging again into 
the pure air and sunshine, which were a pleasant con- 
trast to the stifling atmosphere and subtle odours of that 
human bee-hive. Yet every inch of the way was 
interesting, if only by reason of the strange and varied 
races the place contained. For here were baggy- 
breeched Greeks, red-fezzed, frock-coated Turks, som- 
brely clad Persians, and even turbaned merchants from 
Bokhara mingling with Armenians, Georgians, Tartars 
and fierce-looking " Tcherkess," bristling with daggers 
and silver cartridge-belts. Here an Arab water-seller, 
in snowy white, noisily jungled his cymbals, while next 
him a squatting, green-robed pilgrim from Mecca 
chanted nasal verses from the " Koran " and held out 
a skinny hand for alms, also aggressively demanded by 
relays of blind, and crippled beggars. There were few 

222 



THE CAUCASUS 223 

women about, but occasionally a Turkish lady, in 
voluminous black gown and white " yashmak," would 
hurry modestly by ; while her brightly clad Greek and 
Georgian sisters, bedizened with jewellery and rouged to 
the eyes, lingered on their errands, and seemed to invite 
the attention of casual admirers. But they, like every 
one else, were often scattered in all directions when a 
string of camels, staggering under bales of merchandise, 
parted, with stolid unconcern, this seething mass of 
humanity. 

A considerable portion of the Tiflis bazaar was occupied 
by vendors of Manchester goods, cheap furniture, iron- 
ware, and the miscellaneous collection of utter rubbish 
formerly " made in Germany," and commonplace stores 
were scattered about promiscuously, special streets only 
being assigned to each native trade, product or manu- 
facture. Even the cookshops and bakers had their own 
street, where one could watch the frizzling of savoury 
" kabobs," and the baking of " tchurkebi," a pale 
sodden-looking pancake much relished by Armenians. 
Adjoining this was a passage entirely occupied by 
hatters, and stored with all kinds of head-wear from the 
local " papak," of black or grey lambskin, to the tower- 
ing Persian head-dress, shaped like the mouthpiece of 
a clarionet. And between these were wine-shops, dis- 
pensing red and white " Kaketi," a Caucasian vintage 
which is purchased in a buffalo or sheep skin according 
to the quantity needed. But the Caucasus wines are 
very inferior to those of the Crimea, for, in addition to 
being rough and heady, they often retain a faint but 
unpleasant flavour of the leather in which they have 
been kept. " Kaketi " is also sold in bottles for export, 
but will probably never be as popular in Russia as the 
vintages of Aloushta and the southern coast. 

I found traders of every nationality here fairly honest 
and less rapacious than many I have known in the East, 
and it is therefore sometimes possible to bargain success- 
fully, always assuming that the purchaser is more or 
less of an expert in the article he needs — whether it 
be carpets and embroideries, or antique jewellery and 
silver. And hours may be spent (to say nothing of a 
considerable amount of money) amongst the armourers' 



224 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

stalls. Here I saw every sort of weapon, not only for 
sale, but in course of construction, and workmen busily 
polishing sword and dagger-hilts in silver, ivory or bone, 
fitting scabbards to scimitars, and stocks to clumsy 
barrels of the old blunderbuss type, for there was not 
a modern gun or rifle in the place. But there were 
gold-hilted poniards from Daghestan, Lesghian pistols 
encrusted with uncut gems, and murderous -looking 
knives from Mingrelia, to say nothing of ancient coats 
of mail and shields, one of which latter, beautifully 
enamelled in delicate colours, had come all the way 
from Chinese Tartary. And there were yet greater 
treasures kept under lock and key and only extracted 
from layers of cotton wool for the benefit of wealthy 
customers; one, an exquisite dagger, with a hilt of 
fossilized ivory, and verses of the " Koran," in pure 
gold sunk into its blade of blue-steel, which bore the 
rippled watermark of Damascus. It was said to be 
400 years old, and was valued at £85. 

A loftier, lighter gallery than any other was that of 
the jewellers and silversmiths in their quaint little 
stalls with glass fronts — dingy little dens whose more 
valuable contents are never exposed (for obvious reasons) 
to the public gaze, but kept in a small inner room. I 
only entered one of the latter, where the brilliant display 
of diamonds and rubies, emeralds and pearls would 
have staggered Monsieur Cartier of the Rue de la Paix, 
and where I bought an unset turquoise for which I 
have since been offered twice the price I paid for it. 
Outside every shop was a large wooden tray littered 
with a miscellaneous collection, varying from modern 
European rubbish suggestive of the pawnshop, to really 
old Russian and Oriental chains, brooches, cigarette 
cases, rings, and other articles of use or adornment in 
gold and silver. And here a " connoisseur," able to 
sift the grain from the chaff, might make many a lucrative 
bargain, for the dealers, although cunning enough with 
regard to the sale of precious stones, often underestimate 
the value of antique and artistic workmanship. 

The fur-shops were disappointing, the more so that 
I had been informed that sable, sea-otter, blue-fox, and 
other valuable skins were to be cheaply purchased, 



THE CAUCASUS 225 

whereas I found only bear, lynx, wolf, and astrakhan 
of an inferior quality, yet their prices were higher than 
those of Petrograd or Moscow. Only the lower orders 
in Russia wear astrakhan, and even this was unusually 
expensive. I purchased, however, a garment peculiar 
to the country, which is called a " bourka," a long, 
sleeveless mantle of coarse black or grey felt, which is 
fastened round the neck to fall to the feet, and which 
I have since found invaluable when riding in cold, wet 
weather. For the " bourka " is waterproof as well as 
very warm, and protects not only the rider but his 
horse's quarters. It has therefore since been my in- 
separable companion when travelling in the wilds. 

You can get almost any kind of carpet here, from those 
of Bokhara, as fine as silk, with their rich crimson, 
brown, and ivory tints, to rugs from Broussa and Beyrout 
of less delicate texture and cruder colouring. The most 
valuable Persian carpets seldom leave Teheran, except 
for London or Paris, where, being the best and costliest 
in the world, they fetch enormous prices. I once saw 
a small green prayer-rug in the Persian capital which 
was over five centuries old, and for which an American 
traveller had paid £1000. 

A business engagement took me to Baku, for this is 
a town no one in their senses would ever visit unless 
compelled. For this district, although so wealthy, is 
the flattest and dreariest in the Caucasus, and soon after 
leaving the capital we entered a sandy, barren waste, 
with only an occasional hovel, pool of stagnant water, 
or flock of wild-fowl to break the monotony; while on 
the day I left Tiflis, the dull, grey heavens, crossed by 
dense black clouds, were well in keeping with the dismal 
landscape. The train crawled like a tortoise across the 
lonely plain, and towards evening every station, with 
its air of utter stagnation, one gold-laced ofiicial, and 
group of Tartar porters shivering in the rain, was more 
desolate and depressing than the last. The journey 
had seemed one of days more than hours, before a thin 
streak of silver, illumined by a fitful gleam of sunshine, 
appeared on the horizon between that drab, arid desert 
and lowering sky. This was the Caspian Sea, and a 
few minutes later we steamed into a new and imposing 
Q 



226 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

railway station which, like everything else here, savoured 
of commercial enterprise and boundless wealth. 

Baku is rather suggestive of some prosperous American 
mining city dumped down in the neighbourhood of Port 
Said, for this Caspian port is white, new, and surrounded 
by sand and sea, while the oil-steeped soil, save in the 
shape of some stunted, dusty-looking trees and shrubs 
artificially scattered about the town, precludes all 
vegetation. But there was a business-like air about the 
crowded streets and handsome quay, where steamers 
were continually leaving or arriving from Russian or 
Persian ports, many being luxurious vessels with all the 
comforts of a modern liner. The hotels are good, 
electric light blazes everywhere at night, and there is 
also every modern convenience in the shape of telephones, 
tram-cars and the like. This is residential or what is 
known as " White Baku," while away across the salt- 
marshes and sand dunes is " Black Baku," so called 
because night and day its oil refineries never cease to 
belch forth their noxious fumes. Here the atmosphere 
must indeed be unbearable, for, even miles away, in 
White Baku, you are pursued wherever you go by the 
pungent smell of naphtha, which clings even to the 
sheets on your bed, and serviette at meal- times. The 
sea itself had, on calm days, a greasy appearance, and 
an English resident here informed me that when on one 
occasion he bathed off the beach, his skin absorbed 
so much oil that for days after he was avoided by his 
friends ! The tainted air is, however, presumably not 
unhealthy, for the inhabitants seemed to thrive on it ! 

This permeating odour is scarcely to be wondered at, 
for you cannot walk a couple of miles here in any direction 
without encountering one of the lofty timber erections 
which are called " fountains," and from which naphtha 
sometimes spouts in such quantities and with such 
force that it soars 200 feet into the air, destroying 
both the well and wooden structure designed for its 
control; a serious matter, for the sinking of the latter 
sometimes costs £5000 or £6000. And numerous wells 
are bored, sometimes to a depth of over 1000 feet, with- 
out result ; although, on the other hand, a lucky find may 
occur within a few feet of the surface, from which the 



THE CAUCASUS 227 

precious liquid will gush freely of itself without the 
labour or expense of pumping. The " Russian Petro- 
leum Company " once tapped such a " fountain " which 
in two months yielded 40,000,000 poods of oil.^ 

There seemed to be plenty of gaiety in Baku, in the 
shape of clubs, theatres and dancing-halls, also less 
reputable nocturnal establishments frequented by the 
fair sex for the exploitation of those who had literally 
" struck oil," fortunes here being as rapidly and easily 
amassed as they are sometimes lost, for speculation in 
this product is almost as much of a gamble as prospecting 
for gold. Thus I met one or two young Englishmen em- 
ployed in business houses who had made considerable 
sums of money by investing their spare cash in promising 
oil concerns, but they admitted that, even when " in the 
know," it was all a question of luck.^ This is partly 
proved by the fact that, when I was last in Baku, every- 
body was rushing to the "Maikop" district, which, it 
was then predicted, would entirely eclipse the former 
as a prolific oil centre, although this prophecy has never 
been fulfilled. 

But, after all, this matters little in the Caucasus, where 
petroleum is constantly bubbling up in the most unex- 
pected places, and where districts as yet unexplored 
may, and probably will, yield greater quantities of this 
essential commodity than any of the oil-fields now in 
operation. Moreover, petroleum is only one of the 
valuable natural resources of this part of Russia, which 
provides two-thirds of the whole country's output of 
manganese, of which, by the way, as the latter is used 
for steel, the Germans purchased enormous quantities 
before the war.^ And not only manganese, but nearly 
every other ore is found here : gold, silver, lead, copper, 
zinc, iron, and mercury, besides sulphur, graphite, 
marble, and asbestos ; all of which, although practically 
untouched, have been proved by scientists and engineers 
to exist in large quantities. Yet, as a matter of fact, 

1 A " pood " is thirty- six English pounds. 

* The total output for the Baku district in 1899 was 2,167,801,130 
gallons. 

2 The Russian output of manganese in 1913 was 1,725,000 metric 
tons, to which the Caucasus contributed 970,000. 



228 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

only oil, manganese, and coal have, up till now, been 
seriously and profitably worked. And one great aid 
to the future development of this incalculable wealth 
is the fact that there is no point throughout the Caucasus 
situated more than 120 miles from either the Black or 
Caspian Seas, the former of which has excellent harbours 
at Novorossisk, Poti and Batoum, and the latter, ports 
at Baku and Derbent. 

And not only mineral wealth is here lying idle, for, 
although Caucasia possesses enormous tracts of country 
thickly covered with valuable trees, Baku is still supplied 
with timber from the Baltic coast, while Batoum imports 
it from Italy, or used to do so before the war. But the 
latter has now devastated the Baltic provinces, where 
numberless forests have been destroyed; and when, 
therefore, peace has been declared, British capital might 
well be invested in less profitable ventures than the 
exploitation, (for local use), of Caucasian timber. 

It is satisfactory to note that although the Caucasus 
is still, from a mining point of view, in its infancy, the 
Kuban district, in the north-west, is already a prosperous 
agricultural centre. The Russians here cultivate wheat, 
rye, barley and oats, the native tribes maize and millet, 
and their abundance has resulted in the establishment 
of numerous flour-mills, some of which have a turnover 
of 1,000,000 roubles. The cultivation of sunflower 
seed has also been tried here in connection with the 
extraction of oil, and with such good results that in 1915 
over 15,000,000 poods of this seed were collected 
and utilized by oil-producing works, the refuse being 
made into briquettes and sold as fuel. Tobacco is 
also grown in the Kuban district; and of recent years 
special attention has been turned to the growing of 
vegetables, and a special plant erected for their preserva- 
tion for export. The Kuban is well provided with out- 
lets to the sea, having the ports of Novorossisk and 
Anapa in the west, and Rostov on the north, which 
latter is the most important, for it is connected by rail 
with Central Russia. The Terek district, (which com- 
prises Vladikavkaz), is, next to the Kuban, agriculturally 
the most productive, and in 1912 furnished 6,000,000 
quarters of corn and about 2,000,000 poods of maize, 



THE CAUCASUS 229 

which latter forms not only the staple food of the 
population, but also provides material for the production 
of spirit and starch.^ 

Since I commenced to write this book, now nearly 
six months ago, stupendous changes have taken place 
in Russia, where, as the reader may have gleaned, I 
have formed friends and acquaintances in nearly every 
walk of life, from distinguished Government officials, 
down to the humblest moujik. It is always easy to 
say, " I told you so" after the occurrence of any important 
and unforeseen event, but I may here state, with all 
due modesty, that I had been informed, through certain 
reliable channels in Petrograd, that the recent couy 
d'etat was in active preparation fully a month before 
it took place. It was therefore entertaining, while 
awaiting the cataclysm, to hear the London arm-chair 
critics (whose presence and advice are apparently so 
urgently needed at the front) sapiently declare that one 
result of this titanic conflict would be to establish the 
Romanoff dynasty on an infinitely firmer basis than it 
had ever known before the war ! For reasons above 
stated, therefore, the Emperor's abdication caused me 
no surprise, although it naturally came as a shock to 
one who has now for some years been indirectly associated 
with the empire under the old autocratic regime. More- 
over, I have reason to be grateful to the late Imperial 
Government for many favours, notably for the selection, 
by its penal authorities, of my humble self (at a com- 
paratively early age) to examine, and report upon, the 
Siberian exile system ; a task which I performed to the 
best of my ability, notwithstanding the vague, but un- 
pleasant, insinuations which my favourable verdict on 
Russian prison treatment elicited from a portion of the 
British Press. Again, more recently, the success of my 
expedition from France to America by land was chiefly 
due to the friendly assistance of the ex-Premier, M. 
Trepoff, who (as Minister of Communications) provided 
me with the numberless horses, reindeer, and dogs 
without which I could never have accomplished the 
Asiatic portion of that arduous journey. And last, but 

^ I am indebted to the " Russo-British Society " for these agricultural 

statistics. 



230 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

not least, his late Majesty personally accepted a copy of 
my work Siberia as It is, and graciously expressed his 
cordial approval thereof, on my third return to Petrograd 
from his then much-traduced land of exile. 

I do not, however, for a moment underrate the 
inestimable benefits which every class, (but one), in 
Russia is now likely to enjoy, under the newly established 
democratic Government. Yet, at the same time, I am 
convinced that had it not been for the ex-Tsar's lament- 
able lack of firmness, and inability to control a neurotic 
wife of pronounced German sympathies, he would have 
remained the idol of his people until the day of his 
death. But fate has willed it otherwise, and perhaps, 
all things considered, fate has acted for the best. For 
indomitable will is an essential quality in the ruler of 
any great empire, and there can unfortunately be little 
doubt that the Grand Duke Nicholas, in his famous 
letter of protest to the Emperor, summed up the latter' s 
character with fatal accuracy. 

" Your first impulse and decision," he wrote, " are 
always remarkably true and to the point, but as soon 
as other influences supervene, you begin to waver, and 
your ultimate conclusions are not the same. If you 
could remove the persistent interference of dark forces 
in all matters, the regeneration of Russia would instantly 
be advanced and you would regain the confidence of 
your subjects." 

But this decisive mode of action, although it would 
undoubtedly have been adopted, at the first sign of 
treachery, by his illustrious namesake and predecessor, 
was beyond the power of Nicholas II. 

Yet no throne was ever graced by a monarch more 
universally beloved or one more solicitous of the happi- 
ness and welfare of his subjects. " There is no one to 
aid and protect me ! " was a remark once made to the 
writer by an unjustly convicted Siberian exile ; " for 
God is in his Heaven, and my ' Little Father ' is far 
away ! " 

Nevertheless whatever may be the ultimate effect of 
this happily bloodless revolution, Russia has, at any 
rate, been delivered of the malignant cancer which was 
eating its way into her very heart in the shape of Ger- 



THE CAUCASUS 231 

many's growing influence and power. I have had many- 
opportunities, during my long connection with the 
country, of observing the Kaiser's methods of " peaceful 
penetration," which have at length aroused the pent- 
up rage and resentment of a long-suffering people, and 
called forth their summary vengeance not only upon the 
accursed Hun, but his even more perfidious Russian 
colleagues. And I have often wondered that this has 
not occurred before. For it was pitiable, during recent 
years, to witness this great empire helplessly writhing 
in the tentacles of the unclean octopus which cajoled 
and fooled the Court, corrupted the army and navy, 
.had its agents in the Duma, dominated nearly every 
branch of trade and commerce, and even, by dint of 
usury, bribery, and other nefarious devices, sought to 
undermine the patriotism of the staunch and loyal 
moujik. I have met these miserable German parasites 
everywhere, managing palatial banks in Petrograd, or 
running squalid grog-shops in the remotest parts of 
Siberia, and marvelled at the tolerance and even kind- 
ness displayed, in both cases, by generous and warm- 
hearted Russians towards these crafty spies and emis- 
saries, deputed to encompass the downfall and destruction 
of the people whose friendship and hospitality they 
enjoyed. And no one was more startled and amazed 
than these contemptible creatures when the storm broke, 
like a crash of thunder from a summer sky, and Teutonic 
intrigue and oppression became a nightmare of the 
past. 

May it never be forgotten that although his pro-Ger- 
man consort has been the guiding spirit of the " dark 
forces " alluded to by the Grand Duke Nicholas, and 
the prime mover in the despicable conspiracy which 
would have crippled the Russian Army and concluded 
a shameful peace, the Tsar has always endeavoured 
to fulfil his sacred duties towards his people, and his 
pledged word to the Allies. Now the " dark forces " 
have been scattered to the four winds, and Holy Russia, 
ever true to her glorious traditions and faithful to her 
friends, stands forth, once more free and unfettered, 
to accomplish her great destiny. 

The change from a " paternal " to a " democratic " 



232 RUSSIA AS I KNOW IT 

Government is no doubt a drastic one, yet if the " zemst- 
vos " (or rural councils) have already shown that even 
the moujiks are capable of ruling themselves, the more 
educated middle classes may surely be trusted with a 
voice in the government of the country. Russia has 
been called " an overgrown baby," probably because 
her people have always been treated as children ; whom, 
however, the war has inspired with a greater sense of 
responsibility, and a more matured and experienced 
outlook on life. Wider political and international 
knowledge, unrestricted education, the liberty of the 
Press, and absolute freedom of the subject, are republican 
reforms which must, in due time, produce beneficial 
results amongst the lower classes, especially in the 
agricultural and industrial world. Moreover, the im- 
pending doom of Germany will serve as an imperishable 
warning that the welfare of a nation lies rather in peaceful 
and profitable relations with neighbouring states than 
in a policy of military power, and the lust of war and 
conquest. 

And whatever may happen, in the future, in other 
countries, the Russian people are now firmly resolved 
that neither Germans nor their adherents, of whatever 
nationality, shall again dwell in their midst. Moreover, 
it is to be hoped that their beloved country's narrow 
escape from the deadly peril by which she was recently 
menaced may impel our Russian Allies to enter the 
approaching struggle for final and decisive victory with 
even greater zest and gallantry than before the day of 
their deliverance. 

And so, with this fervent wish, I close these random 
notes and recollections of European Russia and Siberia, 
wherein, if I have on occasion been compelled to undergo 
the sufferings inseparable from Arctic travel, I have 
also, in their less remote regions, formed the closest 
friendships, and passed some of the happiest years of 
my life. 

THE END 



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